A new exhibit focused on the prairie runs April 2, 2010 through August 28, 2010. Topics explored will be prairie formation, the diversity of plant and animal life found, and restoration and protection. There will be a concentration on the West Chicago Prairie, which is jointly owned by the City and the Forest Preserve. It is one of the finest prairies in the State of Illinois, and right in our own backyard! For more information, call (630) 231-3376 or email the Museum at museum@westchicago.org.
As part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project
with the Royal Botanic Gardens in London,
workers from the Chicago Botanic
Garden collected seeds from native
plants from the West Chicago
Prairie in 2004. The project seeks
to collect and preserve seeds
of the world's plant populations
for future generations.
Title: My space: West Chicago
For a second consecutive year, the West Chicago City Museum, in collaboration with artINcorporators, will bring a compelling Artist in Residency Program to downtown West Chicago. This year the program will feature the internationally exhibited New York-based artist, Jorge Rojas, who will work with the West Chicago community to create and influence a unique multimedia art project, My space: West Chicago.More>>
Stories in Stitches opens on Friday, January 9, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. during January's Late Night at the City Museum. It is a small, yet significant quilt exhibit that will run through the end of March. The local quilts on display tell a story or evoke the times in which they were made. One quilt, which was made in 1955, features the embroidered autographs of 18 "Pickle-Packers of West Chicago" ~ women who worked at Columbia Foods, the pickle factory which once occupied the site that now belongs to Jel Sert. Another quilt of note is a Red Cross quilt, made in 1917 by the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Women's Relief Corps. Designed as a fundraiser so that local boys fighting overseas in World War I could receive Christmas gift packages, the quilt sports the embroidered names of the 400 residents who supported this cause. This will be the first of two installments of Stories in Stitches and it will run through the end of March. A second installment will run from April 3, 2009 through the end of June. Be sure to experience both installments!
Title: Gudrun Hasle: Demonstrating Dreams.
West Chicago City Museum in collaboration with artINcorporators launched West Chicago's inaugural artist-in-residency program. Gudrun Hasle of Copenhagen, Denmark, turned the City Museum into her studio. During the month of September she worked with the community to create dream banners. Banners will be on display through October, 2008.
Title: Creating Mexican American Identities: Multiple Voices, Shared Dream
Funded in part by the Illinois Humanities Council and the History Channel, this exhibit tells the story of our Mexican community through photographs, documents and oral histories. The exhibit will be on display at several West Chicago venues and will tour DuPage County and the northern Illinois area.
Title: Building Community: Creating a Dialogue About Mexican Contributions
Through Oral Histories
This exhibit is made possible by a Save Our History grant from The
History Channel. The exhibit will display oral histories of Mexican
immigrants to West Chciago collected through a joint project with
Community High School students who helped record the stories of Mexican
community members.
Title: Century of Progress
The West Chicago City Museum will feature an exhibit about Chicago's
1933-1934 World's Fair through the eyes of local residents. Visitors
will see some of the unique souvenirs collected by local and area
residents. Children will also get the chance to attend a World's Fair
first hand through our children's area set up to replicate the
experience.
Jorge Rojas' website: 
This exhibit is made possible by a Save Our History grant from The
History Channel. The exhibit will display oral histories of Mexican
immigrants to West Chciago collected through a joint project with
Community High School students who helped record the stories of Mexican
community members.
