Evanston Historical Society and Charles Gates Dawes House [IL]

Description

The Dawes House was built in 1894–5 on a two-acre site near Lake Michigan. Designed in the style of French chateaux by architect Henry Edwards-Ficken of New York, the massive three-and-a-half story structure has 25 rooms, six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 11 fireplaces. The house was built for Robert Sheppard and his family; it was purchased by Charles Gates Dawes in 1909 and remained the Dawes family home until 1957 when it was given to Northwestern University to be used as the headquarters of the Evanston Historical Society (now known as the Evanston History Center). Northwestern University gave the house to the EHC in 2009.

The house is open to the public for docent-led tours. The two parlors, formerly used as a reception room and a music room, now feature exhibitions. The library, dining room, and great hall are furnished mostly with original Dawes pieces. A permanent exhibit on Evanston history is located on the second floor, with smaller rotating exhibits on the 2nd floor and in the research room.

The EHC offers lectures, workshops, and other educational programs, as well as community events. School and group tours are available upon request. The EHC maintains an extensive archives of documents, maps, photographs, films, clipping files and other resources and is open to the public during designated hours.

Warren County Historical Society, Museum, and Glendower State Memorial [OH]

Description

The Society maintains a museum and Glendower State Memorial. The Museum is housed in Harmon Hall, a three story, 28,000-square-foot brick building. It contains artifacts from prehistoric eras to the mid-20th century. Glendower is a restored Greek Revival mansion, one of the five built during the 19th century. John Milton Williams, a framer of the state's constitution, employed Amos Bennett to build the rectangular central unit in the 1840s. The 13 rooms include a formal drawing room with two fireplaces. All rooms, furnished with Empire and early Victorian style pieces, reflect the skilled local craftsmen and gracious living of the residents.

A website specifically for the Historical Society can be found here.

The society offers occasional recreational and educational events; the museum offers exhibits, tours, and research library access; Glendower offers tours.

Westport Historical Society and Harris Kearney House Museum [MO]

Description

In 1855, Colonel John Harris and his wife Henrietta built a two-story, all brick, Greek revival house "on a ridge just east of town." The home was known as the "Mansion House." Today, it houses the Society's headquarters and serves as a visitor center and house museum.

The society offers tours, educational programs, research library access, and occasional recreational and educational events; the house offers tours.

Central Insurance Fire Museum [OH]

Description

Central Insurance started out in 1876 as a fire insurance company. The threat of a disastrous fire was always very real and the equipment used to fight fire primitive. F. W. "Bill" Purmort, Jr., President of Central from 1964 to 1994, first took an interest in collecting fire equipment in 1969. He gradually built Central's museum into one of the finest privately owned collections in the U.S. The museum exhibits a collection of leather fire buckets dating back to the 1700s; over 600 antique fire toys consisting of cast-iron, rubber, glass, tin, and wood construction; a large display of fire extinguishers and glass fire "grenades" dating from the 1850s; a rare and valuable collection of "firemarks" dating back to 1720; a wardrobe of antique fireman helmets and uniforms; Van Wert's first hand-drawn pumper used in 1871; an Ahrens horse-drawn steam pumper which was purchased new in 1907 by the city of Van Wert and restored by Central; and a 1926 Ahrens-Fox pumper, the Rolls Royce of firetrucks.

The museum offers exhibits and tours.

1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House [IL]

Description

The Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House is a landmark that links the early history of Edwardsville to the earliest days of the Illinois Territory circa 1809 and the establishment of Edwardsville as the center of government and commerce. It is a connection between Territorial Governer Ninian Edwards, Colonel Benjamin Stephenson, and the State of Illinois. Built in 1820, this two-story brick home, constructed in the Federal style, is an excellent example of architecture from this early period. Each of the four rooms has original millwork; and two of the original mantels designed in the Adams style remain. The home was built with native material by skilled local craftsmen.

The house offers tours, educational programs, other workshops and classes, demonstrations, and occasional educational and recreational events.

Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum [IN]

Description

In this reconstructed 1893 firehouse, the public is shown how the Fort Wayne Fire Department developed from a volunteer department (1839–1882) to an organization of paid professionals (1882–present). This history is traced from the use of hand pumpers and neighborhood volunteers through the development of the steamers and paid firefighters right up to the present-day firefighters. Almost all of the artifacts in the museum were once used by the Fort Wayne Fire Department. Most were graciously donated to the Museum by present and former firefighters or their families in the hopes that future generations can fully understand just how far the fire service has come in the last century and a half.

The museums offers exhibits and tours.

Dover Historical Society and J.E. Reeves Victorian Home and Museum [OH]

Description

This 17-room Victorian home, topped by a third-floor ballroom, has been carefully restored by the Society to its original turn-of-the-century splendor and features the unique treasures of the original furniture and antiques that were the property of Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah E. Reeves, arranged as they would have been 100 years ago. These beautiful family furnishings can be viewed up close, as there are no ropes or barriers prohibiting entrance into the rooms. The Carriage House Museum, located behind the home, contains an interesting collection of vehicles—the family's handsome, horse-drawn carriage, along with the family sleigh, a rare electric car, and a newly restored doctor's buggy. Throughout the carriage house are numerous displays and artifacts that trace Dover's past, a past quite typical of many small towns in America.

The house and museum offer exhibits; tours; occasional lectures; and occasional educational and recreational events, including living history events.

Glensheen: Congdon Historic Estate [MN]

Description

Along the shore of Lake Superior, a 7.6-acre expanse of wooded land enfolds the 39-room Jacobean Revival mansion that is Minnesota's premier historic house museum. The interiors of the mansion have endured, boasting nearly all of the same furnishings and décor that graced the rooms when the Congdons' estate was completed in 1908. Even the formal gardens and naturalistic landscape retain much of their original design. Here, visitors are given a look at life in an affluent family home from the turn of the last century.

The site offers tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.