Haven't been since last summer but excited to visit again. Very cute museum with lots of input from…read morethe community, cool art and lots to learn about the surrounding area.

From the owner: We are the oldest museum in the State of Illinois built to be a museum, that is still in operation…read moreas such. Our building is a neo-Classic architectural gem, designed by David Postle.

This is a very small museum run by a part-time (maybe 2 part-time?) curator set up in the Bartlett…read morecity hall. So it's a delightful surprise if you are, say, there to pay your water bill, but it's not really a museum. That said, the display on Prohibition with a section on root beer for the kiddies sounded interesting. It is very specific to the town - lots of "here is a piece from this old building that was torn down" or "here is china from an old restaurant" and there is limited room for signage - several items needed to be looked up in a 3 ring binder. That said, information on dances being held above a local bar that required reinforcing the ceiling/floor ("it's a 4 post wedding" meant lots of attendees) was quite interesting, and I was charmed by the display on a local poet, which had printouts of her cinnamon snap cookie recipe (haven't tried it yet). In addition to the main display, there are display windows along the hallway to the bathrooms , and a small plaque by the water fountain noting that Bartlett holds the world record for number of people blowing a train whistle at one time. While you're in the building, walk over to the hallway to the police station and check out a small grouping of memorabilia for the town's sister city in Taiwan.

Bartlett is so fortunate to have such a wonderful museum. The Director does a wonderful job. She…read moreposts information on Facebook. Plus, she holds informational session, which I hope will resume when allowed to.

So much fun to do this with my scary friends... they ended up having an amazing time as well so…read morethank you very much for a great time and experience

I would say I have an avid interest in the paranormal. I've always loved reading about ghost…read morestories, shadow figures, apparitions, orbs, and other phenomenons that challenge the logical mindset. When I saw that Haunted Hometowns had a ghost tour, I booked one and had a really interesting experience. The Tour itself lasts about 2 hours with different stops in the historic Naperville area. Diane is the owner and was our guide for the night. She told ghost tales of horror (did you know there was a huge train crash in Naperville?) as well as stories of history (we learned about the history of Naperville's buildings and its inhabitants). The coolest part of our tour was that one of the other people in the tour had an ovilus device. This uses energies for ghosts/spirits to manipulate words that appear on the screen. My EMF (electromagnetic field detector) which was quiet for most of the night started to go off at a random bush in the historic district. The other guy pulled out the device and the words "Map" and "Priest" came up. The area we were in was right by the old church which was really cool. All in all, it was a decent tour. The stories were fascinating but to be honest I was expecting more of a "ghost hunt" tour (like checking out an abandoned building- minus one star) as opposed to ghost stories at different locations. We learned a lot and had fun! Thanks again.

In a historic building just off Dundee Avenue or Route 25 the museum is easy to get to. The first…read morefloor is dedicated to the origins of Elgin and its founders. More interesting to me is the second floor that emphasizes manufacturing in Elgin, some old Elgin High School memorabilia and more. There are Elgin steel kitchens, Elgin Outboards, Elgin Coffee, Elgin bandsaws and the Elgin Watch Company represented there. Some exhibits are permanent some look like they change. I didn't make it to the third floor to look at old photos. For the $3 admission I'm sure I'll be back.