Des Plaines Historical Society History

On September 27, 1967, the organizational meeting of the Des Plaines Historical Society was held in the meeting room at Oehler's Funeral Home. Among the 27 individuals in attendance were members of the Des Plaines Junior Woman's Club who spearheaded the movement, City Clerk Eleanor Rohrbach, and numerous civic minded individuals who felt the community needed an historical society. Mrs. Roy (Sally) Sove, President of the Junior Woman's Club chaired the meeting. Louis Klitzke, a local librarian, was appointed temporary chairman by the Des Woman's Club. They agreed that the main function of an historical society is to firmly establish a place for Des Plaines' future, collect material from Des Plaines history, and bring together people who are interested in history, past, present and future.

By February 1968, the group had incorporated and was off and running. Among their first order of business was to secure the use of the Kinder house for a museum site. Through an agreement with the First Federal Savings & Loan, which owned the property, the Society could utilize the facility until such time as a drive through was to be built. Tours of the facility began shortly thereafter.

They also realized their fundraising efforts would not be enough to sustain daily operations and additional funding would be needed to run the community based museum. In 1969, Society representatives approached the city for assistance, and a sum of $5,000.00 was allocated in the budget.

In its early days, Louis Klitzke was quoted as follows: "We do not want to be dumping ground for old furniture or artifacts. We do not want to be a musty historical society of the past - we want to be a group of the future.

Thanks to the foresight of and the foundation laid by its organizers, and the efforts of hundreds of individuals through the ensuing years, the Des Plaines Historical Society today, forty years later, remains a vital and vibrant part of the community.

 

1970s Highlights

  • 1970 First Museum Coordinator, Mary Wright hired
  • 1972 First Country Fair held; Richard Welch hired as Museum Coordinator
  • 1974 First DPHS historical marker presented to Kinder Hardware
  • 1975 Pioneer Certificate program formed to honor Des Plaines' early settlers; First
    Federal informs DPHS they will have to move
    1976 Pearson and Prairie site selected for Kinder house move
  • 1977 Therese Fraser hired as Museum Coordinator
  • 1978 Kinder house moved to northeast corner of Pearson and Prairie on May 10
  • 1979 July 4, Grand re-opening of Kinder house held

 

1980s Highlights

  • 1980 Flagpole dedicated to Grandmother Ahbe on April 25
  • 1981 First "Victorian Christmas" held
  • 1982 James H. Kinder memorial meeting room dedicated; James R. Williams elected Museum Director
  • 1984 First Pioneer Certificate issued
  • 1985 DPHS kicks-off fundraiser to rebuild front porch; Don Johnson hired as Museum Director; City of Des Plaines, Des Plaines Park District and Des Plaines Historical Society enter into Interlocal Agreement (see link for more information)
  • 1986 Construction of front porch
  • 1987 Artist in Residence program; Keith Coryell hired as Museum Director
  • 1989 Joy Matthiessen hired as Museum Director

 

1990s Highlights

  • 1990 Back porch construction; comprehensive inventory of three dimensional artifacts begins
  • 1991 Storm windows installed
  • 1992 DPHS celebrates 25th anniversary; Conservation Assessment Program survey competed pinpointing various collections needs
  • 1993 Museum staff applies for Museum Assessment Program II grant to further address collections needs
  • 1994 Computerization of three dimensional collection begins; majority of collections stored in attic moved to off-site storage
  • 1995 DPHS publishes "Greetings From Des Plaines: A Community History Through Post Cards"
  • 1996 Computerization of photograph collection begins; 25th Annual Antiques Fair and Flea Market held
  • 1997 DPHS celebrates 20th anniversary; complete teardown of roof takes places; new boiler installed in Kinder house; electric heat units in basement replaced with hot water units
  • 1998 Custom designed and crafted (to replicate the original) turret cap installed; building painted from top to bottom

 

 

MISSION STATEMENT

The purpose of the Des Plaines Historical Society shall be to bring together those people interested in history, especially in the history of Des Plaines; the Society's major function will be to discover and collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the area; provide for the preservation and dissemination of historical information; offer related educational services with the goal of increasing and enriching public knowledge; and operate an historical museum.