My sister had her wedding here and it was the COOLEST venue!! I could have stayed there all night…read moreand still found new things! The attention to detail was incredible!

This place is incredible. Very pricey, but incredible. I've been to many events here and they were…read moreall put together very well. The "barn" is a museum in its own wright. There's tons of old cars and John Deere tractors on display with descriptions and histories about them and the owner. The decor is extremely extensive as well, and I've never seen anything like it. I could wander around in there for hours!

My friend and I had an errand out in this area and decided to see what else there was to see while…read morewe were here. This museum (the home of the Hegeler and Carus families, who were involved in a local zinc company and also a publishing house, Open Court Press) is a national historic landmark and is unique because it was owned by the same family the whole time, & they never made any fundamental updates to the house so it's largely as it was when designed by WW Boyington (who also designed Chicago's Water Tower and the old Joliet prison) in the 1870s. Several rooms have been restored, but you can see in areas where it hasn't where time is taking its toll (for example, the main hall was painted with egg tempera paint, and that organic element [the egg] is now degrading after 150 years). Still, the parquet floors are amazing, and details like pocket doors, carved wooden decorations and historical elements like the speaker tube system in the walls for speaking through the house are unusual! The house also contains the only German-style turnhalle (gymnasium) in a historic home in the US. Other interesting details include an ornate butsudan (buddhist cabinet shrine) due to Hegeler's interest in Eastern religions. We just took the general tour ($15), but you can do half house (upper or lower half for $50 each) or whole house tours ($100). The longest one is apparently 3.5 hours with two breaks and children are discouraged since it is long. You must register for the tours as they max out at 6 people. Despite it saying "masks are required" and our temperatures taken at the door, our guide was initially trying to take his mask off to talk and the other couple on the tour followed suit. When my friend and I left ours on, they all put them back on at some point. The rooms do have 6 foot markers on the floors, but since some of the rooms aren't big, if you had a full tour group this would be an issue. There is an elevator so the Mansion is handicap accessible. Overall, this seems to be one of the bigger attractions in LaSalle, so take a tour if you're in town.

This mansion is beautiful and a amazing historic site to see!! The house tour is incredible! I…read morehighly recommend going here and learning about this incredible family!

Review Visit: June 1st, 2013…read more You'll have a wheely good time here. There really is a museum for everything and anything. This one happens to be dedicated to all things on wheels. Or things that have wheels. Or wheel-shaped things. Okay, I don't think it's the last one but I do think this place is dedicated to items sitting on top of wheels. I'm not really sure how I found out about this place. It may have been from someone at work that brought it up during one of our many talks about traveling. Doing what I do best, I contacted someone to go with me and that person just happened to be my dad. We hopped in my car and made the semi-short drive to check the place out. When we approached the museum, the first thing we noticed was the train situated next to the building. You knew from looking at it that you were in for a treat. We made our way in and got to checking out the museum. The first thing we saw were antique cars. I recognized a few but a lot of them were unique to their time period. I'm not super attached to antique cars but I always think they are cool to look at in museums and such. They had maybe 15 or so at the time of my visit. We moved on to the other part of the museum and it had an eclectic collection of odds and ends. There was a firetruck that we got to take photos with. There was a Rube Goldberg-esque display as seen below. They had a mini train model set up in a glass case. Lastly, I remember there being a giant pendulum-style clock near the firetruck. It's rather hard to write this post as the place seemed to be dedicated to things on wheels but also other random odds and ends. It's best to check out their website below or visit the museum to see what I mean. It's a neat place to spend and afternoon if you have the time.

Fantastic automotive, trains and construction equipment made in Peoria and elsewhere. It is well…read moreworth the visit! The is so much more..., seriously...go visit!

The best surprise of my visit to Pontiac. This museum has such an amazing and eclectic collection…read moreof items to delight everyone. From the outside it seems like any regular historical building -- but the quantity and quality of the displays within create a fun spot to enjoy an afternoon with plenty of learning opportunities. I'm not sure you'll find any larger collection of Route 66 themed items than on the lower floor here. Being immersed in these objects really gave me a feel of the history of Route 66. Attached to this are several other museums covering everything from murals to the Titanic to the Civil War to the 1940's and more. Truly a must visit set of museums that's worth a special trip.

Amazing people with great service. Super friendly definitely recommend stopping here. They…read morerecommended things to do places to go

Historic Attractions Museum - This place is WORTH THE VISIT!! It is absolutely packed with…read morehistorical facts and other fun things like a Super Heroes room, Elvis display, the Hall of Presidents, Gangsterland, World's Lowest Car, Big Foot 4x4, the time capsule car, Gone With the Wind, Tallest Man/Shortest Man replicas, a 9/11 Memorial room, a Last Supper room, JFK's motorcade, TV Land & Customs... Hitler's car, Stalin's car... TOO MUCH to cover in one visit! This would be a great field trip for homeschoolers, scout groups, schools... if you have a large group and you want to schedule presentations for them, call Tony Farrell, Chief Historian at 608-751-2065 or email him: tonyfarrellsr@gmail.com.

5 stars all the way!!! Something for everyone!!! My second visit here and definitely worth the…read moretime!!!! One of a kind cars, original artifacts from famous movie stars and entertainers, and you will absolutely learn tons of information from Tony the Chief Historian who answers all questions!!! From John Wayne to Elvis to Marillyn Monroe to Donald Trump, this Museum has it ALL!!!!! If you are in the area, you must plan an afternoon at the Historic Attractions Museum!!!!

Recommended for anyone that has a little bit of time, and needs to stretch their legs, and has an…read moreinterest in history, This is a nice respite. Located in Dixon Illinois (Grand Detour), the John Deere home offers free admission and even a guided tour if your time it right. Checked their website for operating hours because it appears they can change. The guided tour takes a little over an hour so we had to step out because we could not spare that much time but they were very kind and recognizing that not everyone could stay for the full tour. Located inside a white picket fence is a little museum that has the timeline of John Deere's life, and an archaeological site that marks the origins of his blacksmith shop and basically the birthplace of international John Deere industry as we know it today. Additionally, his home, which was not open to the public when we were there, but you can peek in the windows, is also located on the property. A cute little gift shop with John Deere shirts, hats, etc. is available as well as some really cool items for sale that are fabricated from the blacksmith on site providing demonstrations.

Such a cute little museum! I love it! Great information about the history of John Deere and his…read morewonderful tractors

Great museum. We'd…read morevisited here last, about 20 years ago. Memory fades and it was time to revisit on this trip. All exhibits are housed inside on 2.5 floors. There is also a gift shop and restrooms. I found no elevator. We paid (senior rate saves $1 each) and went into a seating room where there used to be a video projection (no longer working). The staff member there today, Les, led everyone into this room to be seated. Les spoke about the rich history of Galena and he was quite detailed. We found this worthwhile. After the speech, we looked around this room at mostly US Grant artifacts, then we headed to a very large back room that has many displays, dioramas etc. on Galena. Lead mining had a rich history here for a few decades, so there was a lot of mining history on display. When we were done downstairs, we walked upstairs where there is a smallish room on the 2nd floor and a much larger room on what I'd call floor 2.5. Floor 2.5 had mostly wartime history while floor 2 had a variety of history on display. Note that the stairs are fairly steep. The first set also has a 90 degree turn near the top. There is a low, wooden banister-style handrail on one side. To access floor 2.5, there are another 6 or 8 steps to get up to it and there's a metal handrail for them. All in all - it's a pretty well done history museum for a small community and it was worth the time. I'd recommend this useful to anyone who wonders, "why does this town exist, how was it formed and what does its evolution look like". We enjoy museums like this.

What a great little museum! We didn't know what to expect, but I can honestly say we were blown…read moreaway! The ladies that welcomed us were so friendly and knowledgeable about the museum! There was so much packed in! It wasn't only about Grant but about the whole settling of Galena and all the way back to the ice age! I have to say this is a gem of a place and definitely a must see! It's clean and reasonably priced! We will definitely come back when we come to visit again.

Great little museum. Very informative past info on the local area and beyond only five dollars to…read moreenter and you get access to two museums. The staff are kinda unfriendly at the first little one a young girl but the guy working the second one with the coal museum. Was very friendly and helpful. We came like five minutes before closing he told us please don't rush take your time it's ok we appreciated that very informative history here liked it.

We always try visiting local museums whenever we're on a stop-over; even small towns often have a…read morelot of history behind them. The LaSalle County Historical Society Museum is one of the few mid-19th-century buildings left standing on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. It's a very distinctive building on the corners of Canal and Mill Streets in Utica that was built in 1848 from blocks of Utica's native sandstone. Over the years, it was a warehouse, a general store, Utica's first post office, a livery and feed stable, a garage, and a car wash. It was saved from the wrecking ball in 1963 to house the headquarters of the LaSalle County Historical Society. When we stopped in at the museum during a recent week-end trip to Utica, it also happened to be the day that nearby Starved Rock State Park was holding its version of "The Amazing Race." The old gentleman in the lobby was so happy to see a couple who actually wanted to look around the museum and weren't just popping in and out for the race that he gave us quite an enthusiastic tour. He even took down the rope barring entrance to the downstairs to let me use the bathroom! (Apparently they're usually for employees only.) The museum contains lots of interesting exhibits such as: * the coach in which a local entrepreneur drove Abe Lincoln to Ottawa for his first debate with Stephen Douglas * Native American artifacts * tools, clothing and other memorabilia from local pioneers and early residents * samples of coal and a map of some of the many coal mines in LaSalle County (all now closed) * pictures of the devastation Utica suffered during the 2004 tornado, as well as memorial pictures of a young married couple who were among the 8 people killed during this storm * a display of old Westclox radio-luminescent dial clocks that were produced by the Radium Dial Company at its plant in Peru. (Since no one knew about radium poisoning in the early 20th century, many of the young women who were hired to paint these dials later suffered from radiation sickness.) There's no fee to tour the museum, but they're happy to accept any donations. So stop by the next time you're in Utica - you might learn some interesting trivia and you'll make their day.