History Shines a Light on DuPage Ghost Towns in Historical Museum Exhibit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Margie Wilhelmi
Director of Marketing, Wheaton Park District
630.510.4984 | [email protected]

September 21, 2021

Wheaton, IL – Compare a modern map with a map from 100 or 200 years ago, and changes quickly become apparent.

Town names and the settlers who named them move on and new names replace them, along with new cultural influences, new demographics, shifting populations and land uses.

Where in DuPage County was Cloverdale, Fulllersburg, Eola and York Center? What were these places like and why did they vanish?

Ghost Towns of DuPage County, a new exhibit currently on display in the DuPage County Historical Museum’s Textile Gallery, takes visitors on a deep dive into how the county has evolved.

Through historical photos, illustrations, maps and a selection of three-dimensional artifacts, the exhibit tells the tales of four Potawatomi villages that existed in the county before Midwestern Native American tribes were forced to move westward.

Visitors will learn how and why DuPage County ghost towns disappeared to make way for new towns during the Settlement Era from 1830 to 1860, when European Americans founded communities, through the Railroad Era that followed from 1860 to 1940 and the Suburban Era that began in 1940 and continues today.

The exhibit will remain on display through June 11, 2022.

The DuPage County Historical Museum is located at 102 E. Wesley Street, Wheaton. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays and 12 to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Suggested donation amounts are $5 for adults and $2 for children and seniors.

Learn more:

Contact: Michelle Podkowa, Museum Manager & Educator, [email protected]
Facebook: facebook/dupagemuseum