DuPage County Historical Museum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Adams Memorial Library
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DuPage County Historical Museum in 2011
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 Location in Illinois
Location in the United States
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| Location | 102 East Wesley Street Wheaton, DuPage County, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Built | 1891 |
| Architect | Charles Sumner Frost |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 81000675 |
| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1981 |
The DuPage County Historical Museum is a special building in Wheaton, Illinois. It was once known as the Adams Memorial Library. A famous architect named Charles Sumner Frost designed it. Today, it helps people learn about the history of DuPage County.
Contents
What's the Story of This Museum?
From Library to Museum
The Adams Memorial Library was the very first public library in Wheaton. It was also one of the first two libraries in DuPage County. A man named John Quincey Adams gave money to build it. He was a successful real estate investor and miller.
Adams was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He moved to Chicago in 1851. He helped start the Chicago Board of Trade, which is a big market for trading goods. Adams moved to Wheaton after his wife, Marilla Phipps Adams, passed away. The library was named in her honor.
Building Design and Opening
Charles Sumner Frost was chosen to design the library. He had just finished designing the Chicago and North Western railroad station in Wheaton. This was one of Frost's first big projects after he started his own architecture business.
Construction began on October 2, 1890. The library was officially opened by Adams on October 28, 1891. It was one of the first libraries in Illinois to use the Dewey Decimal system. This system helps organize books by topic.
A New Purpose
The Adams Memorial Library was the main library in the area for many years. It was fully supported by Adams's donation until 1923. After that, the city of Wheaton helped with funding. A new library was built in 1965, and the Adams Memorial building was no longer the main library.
In 1965, the DuPage County Historical Society bought the building. They later gave it to the county. It reopened as the DuPage County Historical Museum in 1967. On June 4, 1981, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is a very important historical site. The museum's goal is to teach people about the history of DuPage County and its connection to Illinois and the United States.
How the Building Looks
Outside the Museum
The museum building is located at the corner of Wesley and Main Streets in Wheaton. It has two stories and is built from strong limestone. It features a style called Richardsonian Romanesque. This style uses rough stone blocks, wide rounded arches, and detailed decorations.
The building looks very similar to another library Frost designed earlier. Each side of the building has a tall stone gable. These gables have decorative carvings. Each gable also has an arched window. The north side has a special tower with stairs inside. This side also has the main entrance, which is a double doorway. The entrance has a beautiful arched design with carved details.
Inside the Museum
Inside, the museum has oak wood floors and plaster ceilings. The first floor has a large main hall with an oak staircase. The main reading room is in the northwest corner. There was also a ladies' reading room and a lecture hall. The main hall has marble on the lower part of the walls.
The main reading room has a carved ceiling and a fireplace. The ladies' reading room also had a fireplace. The lecture room is decorated with oak wood on its walls. The library room, one of the rooms on the southeast, also originally had a fireplace.
The second floor used to be a large auditorium that could seat 500 people. There was also a dressing room on this floor. Later, this room was changed to add a fire escape and a kitchen. A staircase leads up to a third floor, which once looked down over the auditorium.
In 2018, the DuPage County Historical Museum was chosen as one of the "Illinois 200 Great Places." This was part of a celebration for Illinois's 200th birthday.
