Elmhurst History Museum

About

The Elmhurst History Museum engages people with history through thoughtful collection, enlightening exhibits, and diverse educational opportunities.

Story

Founded in 1957, the Elmhurst History Museum (formerly known as Elmhurst Historical Museum) is located in a historically significant structure known as the Glos Mansion, the former home of Elmhurst's first village president, Henry L. Glos, and his wife, Lucy. The Museum opened in January 1957 on the third floor of the Glos Mansion, which at the time also housed Elmhurst City Hall. The museum moved to the Wilder Mansion at Wilder Park from 1965-1975, and then returned to its current location in 1975.

The Museum fills an essential role in the life of the community revealing the quality of life in years past and providing a basis on which pride in Elmhurst will grow and endure. The Museum fulfills its mission by:
- Acquiring and caring for locally significant artifacts, records, documents, photographs, audio-visual materials, and publications.
- Maintaining a historically and architecturally significant building, the Glos Mansion.
- Presenting historical concepts and museum collections to the public through exhibits, educational programs, tours and publications.
- Supporting research related to local history and Museum collections.
- Offering cultural and social opportunities related to community history and heritage.

In addition to this facility, the museum also manages the recently restored Churchville Schoolhouse, a historic one-room schoolhouse located just north of Grand Avenue on Church St. in Bensenville. The Churchville Schoolhouse is registered in the National Register of Historic Places, and was reopened for public use in 2010. Programs at the Schoolhouse are by appointment only. Young schoolchildren and other visitors to the Schoolhouse will go back in time to the early 1900s via a living history experience facilitated by a school marm of the era.