“A Sense of Place” is a blog written by the West Chicago City Museum staff and/or members of the Friends of the Museum, to spotlight West Chicago’s local history. Through brief capsules of local history the blog aims to prove that history is not dry and dusty, but alive and entertaining. Scroll to bottom of page to see the latest installments.
Museum Staff
Sara Phalen - Executive Director
Maggie Cappetini - Museum Educator
Contact Info:
City Museum
132 Main Street
West Chicago, IL 60185
Phone: (630) 231-3376
Hours of Operation
December – February:
Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fridays 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Saturdays closed
March – November:
Thursdays 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.,
Fridays and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
A Sense of Place: Celebrating the West Chicago Public Library’s History
As the West Chicago Public Library District celebrates its 25th year in its current building next month, the City Museum celebrates the history of the library in our community. Our historical records tell us that West Chicago had a library as early as 1879, back in the day when the town was informally known as […]
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A Sense of Place: Honoring J. Wesley Diebold
As our country honors the 100th Anniversary of World War I, the City Museum is honoring those who served during the Great War, including J. Wesley Diebold, remembered here. Wesley Diebold’s story sadly tells the tale of another enemy of soldiers in 1918, the Spanish Flu. J. Wesley Diebold, one of four West Chicagoans who died in […]
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New Installment of A Sense of Place: Remembering World War I
As our country honors the 100th Anniversary of the United States entering World War I, the City Museum is honoring those who fought in the Great War, including Robert Bond, remembered here. Over the next two years, the City Museum will be featuring some of the veterans of World War I on its blog, as well as […]
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A Sense of Place Blog: Zelda DeTray Dunbar
As part of Women’s History Month, the City Museum is featuring a local female artist who lived and worked in West Chicago. Zelda DeTray was also featured during our 2016 Tales Tombstones Tell at Glen Oak Cemetery. Zelda Jewel DeTray was born in Quincy, Illinois, on July 6, 1895. She lived there for just a […]
Read MoreA Sense of Place: Meet George McAuley
During our 2015 Tales Tombstones Tell, we highlighted some of the graves that shed light on disease and medicine through our community’s history. We ended the tour at the grave of Walter M McAuley who suffered from a common 19th century disease, tuberculosis. Walter McAuley was born in 1826 in New York to George and […]
Read MoreOakwood Cemetery’s Benefactors Featured in A Sense of Place Blog
As we approach the 26th year of Tales Tombstones Tell, the annual cemetery walk, we remember Dr. Joseph and Mary McConnell who gave the land for Oakwood Cemetery, our oldest cemetery in town. This story of the McConnell’s was featured in last year’s 25th Anniversary of the event. Joseph McConnell and his wife, Mary Thompson Fuller, came […]
Read MoreNew installment: A Sense of Place
Helen Hills The Hills family was a prominent family in the early days of West Chicago. The Hills have been featured over the years in City Museum exhibits and in our annual Tales Tombstones Tell Oakwood Cemetery walk. Albert Hills was an important man in the early days of our community. He worked as a […]
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100 Years of Downtown Support: The Lellios Family
An immigrant from Albania, Michael Lellios first came to the United States in 1912. Within a couple of years he had moved to West Chicago and had purchased property on Main Street, eventually going into business with his brothers. Since that time, the family has continued to own property here and supported downtown business growth […]
Read MoreEdgar E. Belding and the Belding Moving Company
The Belding family came west from Pennsylvania in 1854, and Edgar Belding was born the next year in Rock Creek, Illinois (Carroll County). He was one of the 10 children of Daniel and Harriet Blank Belding. When Edgar was 21, he married 16-year-old Caroline Holmes in 1875, and they moved to western Kansas with their […]
Read MoreThe 508 Caboose of “The J” Has Come to Stay
If you’ve been in Reed-Keppler Park since April 3, 2013, you may have noticed a red caboose with “The J” and “508” painted on the side of it sitting near the parking lot of the Turtle Splash Water Park. Anyone growing up before technology changed communication methods on trains in the 1980s knows that almost […]
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