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Our first office and Museum was the 1905 Gillick House located at the southwest corner of Summit and Euclid Avenues. Currently, we occupy a private residence built around 1880 on Prairie Avenue. Nine families lived in the home in earlier times, although the name of the original owner is not known. Renovation of this building required the collective efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. This work began in April 1983 and took one year to complete.
The architectural style of our Museum is Queen Anne, as seen in the gingerbread trim and siding treatment: shake singles on the upper reaches of the structure and horizontal siding on the lower areas. All of the original flooring was refinished - narrow oak boards on the first floor and maple upstairs. The front and back porches were added in the 1920s. All materials are authentic or reliable reproductions to represent a turn of the century home.
The Museum is furnished to depict the way a typical family might have lived in the late 1800s. At that time, the streets were dirt or gravel and the sidewalks constructed of wooden boards. "Park Ridge: A Photo History" (published by the City’s Heritage Committee) provides more information on how our community has looked and changed over the decades. A copy is available for viewing at the Museum.
A walk through the museum is informative and educational. Among the items on display (many of which have been donated by Park Ridge families and organizations) are wicker furniture from the late 19th century, a wooden wall telephone, authentic light fixtures, some converted from gas to electricity, attractive living room furniture of the era, a "camel bottom" writing desk, many artworks including paintings of old Park Ridge buildings and landmarks, period glass and china in the dining room, a copper lined oak water closet and an old school clock. Also on display are an oak icebox, bricks fired at the Pennyville brickyard, many old kitchen utensils, an early electric refrigerator and electric washing machine, a variety of laundry irons, old sewing machines and vacuum cleaners, an oak hall tree that with a beaver hat, an 1870 pier mirror, a disc gramophone, an old radio, many old typewriters and a Pullman style bed. A Museum tour also comes upon many historic photos of the city, toys of the era, old trunks and a turn-of-the-century bedroom furnished with lovely treasures such as a walnut bed and dresser set (circa 1860), a handmade bedspread, an ivory dresser set, a very old boudoir chair, an 1875 folding rocker, and a rocking chair once owned by John Greenleaf Whittier.
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Click here to view a map of our location and get directions. The Museum is located just west of uptown Park Ridge at the intersection of Prairie and Garden, 1 block east of Cumberland Avenue and 1 block south of Touhy (approximately 2 miles east of the 294 toll way exit at Touhy; approximately 2 miles north of the Kennedy expressway exit at Cumberland). |
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