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"We Have a Fair Prospect of Success Here! The Story of Kankakee County, Its First Century From 1853 to 1953," explores the general history of the Kankakee area from the creation of the county in 1853 to the celebration of the Kankakee Centennial in 1953. Some of the Exhibit’s sections deal with: French-Canadian Immigration; The Railroad; the Kankakee River; area agriculture and businesses; the Civil War; the Hotel Riverview, schools, hospitals and the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane. "The Three Governor’s Gallery" discusses the three Kankakee native sons who became the Governor of Illinois. They are: Governor Lennington Small (served 1921 to 1929), Governor Samuel Shapiro (served 1968 to 1969) and Governor George Ryan (served 1999 to 2003). Kankakee is the only community in Illinois that can boast of having three native sons achieve the state’s highest elective office. The exhibit contains memorabilia from each governor and pieces of furniture they used during their tenure in Springfield. "The Sculpture of George Grey Barnard" Over thirty examples of this master artist’s sculpture are displayed, organized to explain his life as depicted in his work. Barnard was an active artist between 1894 and 1936. He spent a portion of his early life in Kankakee. The majority of these pieces are plaster casts, representing studies for subsequent work in marble. Striking examples include his various busts of Abraham Lincoln, and the "Veiled Maiden," and the "War Bride," indented for his post World War I arch of peace, which he intended to build in New York City.
"Kankakee Faces the American Century, 1894 to 1921": Kankakee County's military experience during the Spanish-American War and World War I is thoroughly explored in this new two-year exhibit. The exhibit traces the history of Kankakee's own "citizen soldiers," Company L/ 3rd Regiment Illinois National Guard. Company L's story is told from the establishment of the post Civil War National Guard in the 1870s to the end of World War I. Highlighted is Company L's participation in the Spanish-American War 1898 Puerto Rico Campaign, its service on the Texas border in 1916 fighting Mexican irregulars, its deployment to France during the Great War (where from 1917 it was designated Company L/ 3rd Battalion/ 129th Infantry/ 33rd Infantry Division Illinois National Guard) and finally with its time in Germany on occupation duties until 1919. The exhibit presents many fine examples of related photographs, archival material and artifacts from the Museum’s extensive collections. This material has not been exhibited before. "We're All Doing Our Part!' The World War II Experience of Kankakee County," illustrates Kankakee's participation in one of the great traumatic events of the twentieth century. The exhibit contains many significant artifacts, much interesting archival material and is richly supported with numerous photographs of Kankakee area participants in the Second World War.
“The Gibson Girl’s Kankakee,” ca 1890 to 1914: This exhibit explores the concept of feminine beauty at the turn of the twentieth century, when local ladies adopted the style of the “Gibson Girl”, popularized by the drawings of Charles Dana Gibson. All the photographs in the exhibit are of Kankakee early twentieth-century “belles.” A Currier & Ives View of American and Kankakee County in the Era of Sectional Conflict, ca 1850 to ca 1880: The changing nature of America and Kankakee County is explored in this exhibit, which highlights the experience of Kankakee County in the Civil War era. “Our Civic Passions Were Stirred!’ A View of Life and Death in Kankakee County in 1900 with the Family of James and Edith Lillie”: This innovative exhibit employs local “builder” James Lille and his family as a focal point to explore various elements of social history, such as; photography; sports; entertainment; dining customs; death and mourning customs; and the use of leisure time. In addition, from the middle of the exhibit one can view the Museum’s impressive outdoor “Column Garden,” the 1904 Taylor School House and the historic Dr. A.L. Small House. The Fourth Annual Art Show of the Kankakee County Art League: Local artists (members of the Kankakee County Art League) display their paintings (oils and watercolors in the Museum’s Barnard Sculpture Gallery between Sunday, October 11th 2009 and Sunday, October 25th 2009. The Thirty-first Annual Gallery of Trees Exhibit (2009): This annual exhibit represents the Museum’s gift to the Kankakee area community and is widely regarded as the “official” opening of the holiday season in Kankakee County. The exhibit will be open to the general public between Saturday, December 5th 2009 and Thursday, December 31st 2009. The Museum is closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There is no entrance fee to visit the Museum in December during the life of the Gallery of Trees Exhibit.
These wonderful additions to the Kankakee County Museum complex are largely the work of the Kankakee “Kultivators,” and other civic minded individuals. The Column Garden, in particular, provides a simply beautiful spot for reflection and meditation, or just for eating your lunch. It includes many large and interesting Museum artifacts, such as: columns from the 1904 Eastern Illinois Trust & Savings Bank (later the First Trust and Savings Bank); an 1887 iron public fountain that stood on the lawn before the 2nd Kankakee County Court House on the Kankakee County Court House square, until removed during construction of the 3rd Copyright © 2006 The Daily Journal |
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The Dr.
A.L. Small House was built in 1855, with extensive additions made between
1872 and 1875. The downstairs is currently open to the public, permitting
visitation in the family kitchen, dinning room, music room, formal parlor and
Dr. Small’s consulting office. Dr. Abram Lennington Small was a prominent
physician in Kankakee from 1855 until his death in 1914. He and his wife
Calista Currier Small raised six children in this example of an upper middle class
family home. Nearly eighty percent of the artifacts displayed in the house
were owned and used by the Small family. Governor Lennington Small was born
in the formal parlor. Also displayed inside the house, are many examples of
paintings and etchings done by Dr. Small’s eldest daughter Susanne, who
studied in Paris with such noted impressionist artists as Claude Monet.
The
Taylor School House is a one-room rural school house that was built in
1904 and relocated to the Kankakee County Museum complex in 1976. All eight
grammar school grades were taught in the school, which was used without
electricity until 1948. The Taylor School House serves as a memorial to the
efforts of unsung rural educators. 
The Column & Freedom Gardens: 
Kankakee County Court House (between 1908 and 1912); school bells from the Kankakee Central School and the rural Baker School; and a middle nineteenth-century mill stone. In addition, nearby are the 1904 Taylor School House and the historic Dr. A.L. Small House. The Freedom Garden, displaying tasteful modern memorials, honors the service of Kankakee residents in all of America’s wars from the Colonial period to the present. Bricks may be purchased for $50.00, which honor individual servicemen.
