Elmhurst History Museum’s newest exhibit, Acre by Acre: Our Farming Heritage, examines the roots put down by pioneering families in the west suburbs between about 1850 and 1950.
Over those hundred years, DuPage County was home to small towns and farming families, first supporting themselves through subsistence farming. That soon gave way to a thriving farming community transitioning to commercial agriculture and, museum officials said, the DuPage area became significant contributors to the state’s agricultural legacy.
Sarah Cox, the museum’s curator of exhibits, said those early farming families mainly came from two groups — native-born people who came to the area from New York, Ohio, Vermont and Pennsylvania, and immigrants from Europe, including Germany, England and Ireland.
“By 1870, about 20% of the population of DuPage County is German,” Cox said.
The exhibit highlights some of those early German families, whose names remain familiar in the area. It also showcases a selection of the tools those early farming families used to clear and prepare the land for their first crops.
“I love all the pieces that still remain from the families that were here in the beginning,” Cox said. “I have a lot of kitchen items from the Fischer family, a lot of kitchen items from the Graue family, as well as materials from local dairies (of the time).”
That Graue name – pronounced “Grou-ee” – still is prominent in the area, adorning the Graue Mill and Museum in the Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in Oak Brook.
The Graues and others were attracted to DuPage County by affordable farm land that sold for around $1.25 an acre, Cox said.
The land may have been affordable, but it needed work before becoming productive. Families faced challenges in clearing their land and getting their first crops started. Their jobs became easier with the arrival of mechanized farming equipment, as tractors replaced draft horses and revolutionized the agriculture industry in Elmhurst and throughout the world.
And with DuPage County’s location along extensive railway lines, farmers in the area were well situated to participate in the growing trade and commerce of agricultural products through Chicago.
In addition to original farm ledgers, photographs, videos and many historic farm tools, the exhibit offers several interactive elements, from a farmer’s market for children to trying out traditional farm chores. It also provides a look at how Illinois influenced the agricultural industry over the decades.
“We’re thrilled to bring this new exhibition to Elmhurst and to tell the stories of the many pioneers who cultivated the land we now call home,” Cox said. “We hope the exhibit inspires visitors to learn about where their own food comes from, support local farmers by visiting one of the many farmers markets in the area, and possibly even try their hand at growing their own produce this summer!”
The Acre by Acre: Our Farming Heritage exhibit is open through Aug. 10 at the Elmhurst History Museum, 120 E. Park Ave. It’s open from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and Sundays, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free. Information is at www.elmhursthistory.org.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
