http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0605170325may17,1,1949865.story Neighborhood, suburban museums delight in the ordinary By Patrick T. Reardon Tribune staff reporter Time-darkened baseball bats and sewer-line schematics. Newspapers, wedding invitations, fuzzy First Communion photos and colorfully gowned dolls. Throughout the Chicago metropolitan region, historians are busy locating and preserving these odd and disparate pieces of the past, and then putting them on display in local museums. In more than 100 suburbs and city neighborhoods, these institutions are strong and vibrant community presences. They are among 453 museums of all types in the six-county area. A local museum is a community's autobiography, a way of saying: This is who we are, and this is how we got here. For researchers, the museums are invaluable archives, whether housed in multimillion-dollar, state-of-the art facilities or inside the stately rooms of storied mansions. These collections of mementos of bygone days -- documents, furniture, maps, clothes, street banners, toys and even kitchen utensils -- tell deeply human stories. Not only do they record the past, they hint at the future. Recently, Tempo toured nine local history centers. Here's what we found: The James P. Fitzgibbons Historical Museum, in the Calumet Park fieldhouse, 9801 S. Avenue G, Chicago, 773-721-7948 (the number of the East Side Chamber of Commerce which supports the museum), no Web site, opened in 1985: A delightful, vibrant, life-affirming hodgepodge of stuff, this 21-year-old institution chronicles the history of the four Chicago neighborhoods at the Indiana border -- East Side, Hegewisch, South Chicago and South Deering. Entering the museum is like walking into a neighbor's attic or basement. At every turn, there's something personal, revealing or downright odd to catch your eye. Names of local residents, often long-gone, appear on display cards with no indication of who they were or whether they were "important." That's fine. This is an institution that celebrates -- indeed, takes pride in -- ordinariness. Here, amid the clutter, you can find a framed copy of the official state-approved articles of incorporation of the Luxembourgers Ladies of America, issued May 13, 1947, and later signed by more than 40 of the group's members. And Ed Bonk's modest but well-used pipe collection. And a rusted metal porthole (donated by George Kettel) from the passenger steamer Eastland which, in 1915, sank in the Chicago River, taking the lives of 844 excursionists. St. Charles Heritage Center, 215 E. Main St., St. Charles, 630-584-6967, www.stcmuseum.org, opened 1933: The front of a 1950s postcard reads: "Greetings from St. Charles, Illinois on the Fox." And, on the back, Kathie writes to her friend Judy in McHenry: "I'm sorry I didn't write sooner. Only two more weeks and school will be out! My dad got a new station wagon last week. I might not be seeing you too much anymore because we might move to Aurora, Illinois." It's a charming highlight to a charming museum built into a former gas station that was long a St. Charles landmark. Other entrancing grace notes: 12,000-year-old arrowheads found by local farmers, a shoe-scraper used by generations of students at the East Side School, a red crank-handled string-bean slicer and, in at least one of the restrooms, a photo display titled "Outhouses of St. Charles." Elmhurst Historical Museum, 120 E. Park Ave., Elmhurst, 630-833-1457, www.elmhurst.org/elmhurst/museum, opened in 1958: Settling the suburbs was not always easy. That's the subtext of several of the exhibits at this institution in the former Glos Mansion. One photo, for instance, shows a local intersection thickly clotted with traffic, and the accompanying text comments on the "conflict between the automobile and railroad over priority in downtown Elmhurst." There's a poster from a 1920s campaign for new streets and sewers, urging residents: "Get out of the Mud -- Boost Elmhurst Improvements." Another poster is for a "Junk Rally" to provide material for weapons and other World War II needs. Several documents delineate the village's decision during the Depression to continue to exclude factories, even though jobs were desperately needed. Joliet Area Historical Museum, 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet, 815-723-5201, www.jolietmuseum.org, opened in 2002: Inside the museum, after visitors sit through a 13-minute introductory video on Joliet history, they see the screen rise, revealing two doors that replicate a lock on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Those "lock" doors swing open, and visitors find themselves walking into a life-size, limestone bordered replica of the canal itself, completed in 1848 and important in the development of Joliet as a city. It's an eye-popping welcome to the $9.4-million institution, which incorporates the former Ottawa Street Methodist Church and its colorful stained glass windows. And, far from avoiding the city's penal history, the museum includes a display that notes, "Joliet is nationally known for its prisons, and the State Penitentiary remains an imposing feature of the area's landscape." Among the exhibits: a prison ball, chain and shackle from the 1870s. Bronzeville Children's Museum, lower level, Evergreen Plaza Shopping Center, 9600 S. Western Ave., Evergreen Park, 708-636-9504, bronzevillechildrensmuseum.com, opened in 1993: Devoted to African-American history, this museum is named for the once vibrant black Chicago neighborhood about eight miles to the northeast. Each year, the museum remakes itself to examine a different aspect of the African-American experience, such as black aviators, black cowboys and the Underground Railroad. This year's subject is the Bronzeville neighborhood itself, home of such great writers and musicians as Richard Wright and Louis Armstrong. Within the next two years, founder Peggy Montes and her daughter Pia hope to move to larger quarters in a new building at 9301 S. Stony Island Ave. in Chicago. Evanston Historical Society, 225 Greenwood St., Evanston, 847-475-3410, www.evanstonhistorical.org, opened in 1960: Charles Gates Dawes was one of the more colorful figures from a century ago -- U.S. vice president (under Calvin Coolidge), a brigadier general in World War I, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a Chicago banker -- and composer of the music that, in the 1950s, became the top-selling pop song "It's All in the Game." Evanston's history museum is in the lakeside mansion where Dawes lived and, at age 85, died. In fact, the chair in which he passed away in 1951 is on display, as is, on the piano, the sheet music for his song. On the second floor is a panoply of items from the city's history including a piece of a tree from a Civil War battlefield in which a smashed Minie ball is embedded, a two-seat bench from a present-day CTA rapid transit train and a map showing the early isolation of black and Polish populations with the frank admission, "The urbanization of Evanston increased both its diversity and segregation." Edgewater Historical Society, 5358 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, 773-506-4849, www.edgewaterhistory.org, opened in 2002: Housed in a former firehouse, this modest museum features a display on the Edgewater Beach Hotel, once a grand presence on the North Side lakefront. In addition to an array of photographs, the exhibit also includes plates, silverware, swizzle sticks, recipe books and even a set of the hotel's own playing cards. Other display cases honor several local churches that are celebrating their 100th anniversaries this year, including the Granville Avenue United Methodist Church at 1307 W. Granville Ave. Members of that congregation have provided a color photograph of a black-masked man and his snow-white horse, noting "The man who played `The Lone Ranger' on TV for many, many years attended our Sunday School. He was known as Jack Moore." His hordes of fans, though, called him Clayton Moore. Haines Museum, 1917 N. Sheridan Rd., Waukegan, 847-336-1859, www.waukeganhistorical.org, opened 1973: History can be ugly. Take the stereotypical turn-of-the century image of two coal-black boys on the orange cover of a box of Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder on display in the kitchen of this museum. Or the small much-battered toy Mammy with her blue bandana on the mantelpiece in the child's bedroom exhibit. The white racism embodied in those items "was part of the culture," says museum supervisor Brian W. Hora. But he adds so were the abolitionists who lived in the area and hosted Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the bed Lincoln used during a visit is preserved in a second-floor bedroom, and on the wall is his framed signature. Des Plaines History Center, 789 Pearson St., Des Plaines, 847-391-5399, dpkhome.northstarnet.org/DPHS, opened in 1969: It uses its squat Pearson Street building for its archives and temporary exhibits, but its permanent exhibits are next door in the gracious, three-story Kinder House, built nearly a century ago for the family of a local hardware store owner. Here, many of the rooms, such as the kitchen and front parlor, have been restored to their Edwardian-era tidiness. But not everything says "do not touch." In the parlor a visitor can see three-dimensional images by peering through a replica of a turn-of-the-century stereograph viewer. For comparison, there's also a Fisher-Price View-Master, circa 1960s, with its wheel of color photographs. - - - Do you know your local history? Then match these photos with the 9 Chicago-area museums listed below. A. Restored Kinder House highlights design elements of the Edwardian age. Tribune photo by John Dziekan B. "The Lone Ranger" Clayton Moore once attended Sunday school at a church in this neighborhood. Tribune photo by Chris Walker C. The bride wore black to her 1892 wedding held in the western suburb, where the gown is on display. Photo for the Tribune by Michael Walker D. A former Chicago mayor once lived in the home where this teddy bear is part of a toy display. Tribune photo by Wes Pope E. Table-top map of a historic and currently resurgent South Side neighborhood. Photo for the Tribune by Anthony Robert La Penna F. Lincoln Logs set that belonged to the children of a colorful U.S. vice president and North Shore resident. Tribune photo by Chris Walker G. Early 20th Century wood carving done by someone with a lot of time on his hands. Tribune photo by Alex Garcia H. Album page from a collection of World War II photos now housed in a center in the Fox River area. Tribune photo by Chris Walker I. Porthole recovered from the passenger steamer Eastland that sank in the Chicago River in 1915. Tribune photo by Patrick T. Reardon Museum mega-land: Here are 9 of more than 400 1. The James P. Fitzgibbons Historical Museum 9801 S. Avenue G, Chicago 2. St. Charles Heritage Center 215 E. Main St., St. Charles 3. Elmhurst Historical Museum 120 E. Park Ave., Elmhurst 4. Joliet Area Historical Museum 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet 5. Bronzeville Children's Museum 9600 S. Western Ave., Evergreen Park 6. Evanston Historical Society 225 Greenwood St., Evanston 7. Edgewater Historical Society 5358 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago 8. Haines Museum 1917 N. Sheridan Rd., Waukegan 9. Des Plaines History Center 789 Pearson St., Des Plaines Source: ESRI, TeleAtlasChicago Tribune/Kiera E. Westphal The answers: A-9, B-7, C-3, D-8, E-5, F-6, G-4, H-2, I-1 - - - 453 museums in the Chicago area Most suburban and neighborhood local history museums operate on a very abbreviated schedule, opening for just a day or two each week and for only a few hours. Often, they're staffed by volunteers, so opening and closing times can be somewhat fluid. Web site information isn't always up-to-date, so it's best to call before visiting to double-check hours and other details. Most are free to the public. Illinois has nearly 1,000 museums of all sorts -- from history to science to art to nature. And nearly half of them (453 of 942) are in the six-county Chicago metropolitan region. Here, according to a list prepared by the Illinois Association of Museums, is where they are: Chicago, 112 suburban Cook County, 156 Du Page County, 66 Kane County, 43 Lake County, 35 McHenry County, 11 Will County, 30 Rest of Illinois, 489 -- Patrick T. Reardon - - - In the gift shop ... All of the museums that Tempo visited had some sort of gift shop -- although, in some cases, it was little more than a dusty area of the front counter. Here are the sorts of things we found for sale: - Joliet Area Historical Museum: The book "Joliet Prisons: Images in Time" by Robert E. Sterling, $39.95. - Haines House Museum: A Waukegan Historical Society commemorative plate, $10. - Elmhurst Historical Museum: A postcard, circa 1912, featuring eight views of Elmhurst, 75 cents. - James P. Fitzgibbons Historical Museum: The book "Always Bring a Crowd!: The Story of Frank Lumpkin, Steelworker" by Beatrice Lumpkin, $10. - St. Charles Heritage Center: A forest green baseball cap with the words "St. Charles. IL" on the front, $12.50. - Evanston Historical Society: An afghan displaying Evanston scenes, including the Grosse Point Lighthouse and Evanston Township High School, $50. - Bronzeville Children's Museum: The children's book "Kimi & Chanti Tell the Story of Jean Baptiste DuSable" by La Verne Johnson and Craig Rex Perry, $3. - Des Plaines History Center: A postcard featuring a pre-1896 photo of a farm in what is now Des Plaines, 25 cents. - Edgewater Historical Society: A booklet for a walking tour of the Highlands portion of the Edgewater neighborhood, $3. -- Patrick T. 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