Des Plaines History Center

Emma Marston was a friendly, caring and knowledgeable curator that made the History of Illinois interesting enough for my 8 year old son! She took the time to answer all his questions and even gave us a tour of the Kinder House.nFantastic level of service!

PHOTOS - You can take photos of exhibits and the Kinder House. You can also actually touch some exhibits.nTIP - Request a private tour of the Kinder HousennPRICE - FreennLOCATION - Near downtown Des PlainesnnPARKING - Free parking on the streetnnDURATION - 2 hoursnnEXHIBITS - Right when you enter you are greeted and welcomed. We were told that if we wanted we could be given a tour of the Kinder house, which you should do.nnThe History Center is small. It won’t take you longer than an hour to see all the exhibits and read all the exhibit captions. However, at least you feel that you actually are able to see everything and read most of the center’s descriptions. When you go to a very large museum, you sometimes feel overwhelmed with the amount of information.nnIt will take another hour to see the Kinder house, which is a house next door. It was built in 1907 by the affluent Kinder family that owned and operated a local hardware store. The tour is very personal. You can ask questions and even touch some exhibits.nnFor such a small place, DPHC had some very interesting items: WW I and WW II military and navy uniforms were interesting. They were not behind bullet-proof glass but rather out in the open. You could see close & personal the material, the cut & seams.nnThere were couple fascinating items in the Kinder house: 1) the double electric/gas lights. Since electricity was new at the time that the house was built, the gas side served as ‘just in case’ the new technology - electricity didn’t work ;-); 2) the three nobs in the kitchen - for hot, cold and hard water. Since the plumbing system was rather new, the hard water served as ‘just in case’ alternative; 3) ‘modern,’ for the time, toys and books - fun for kids to see.

Love this place!! My girls and I went to the Des Plaines History for the first time. The staff were extremely caring! My girls did not want to leave!nThank you so much for the smiles you've given to my girls and to other children as well (Emma ud83dude09)!

This is the only place you can learn so much about Des Plains..

Great place to bring a small group of children to learn about some local history. We use this location for several Cub Scout meetings and to work on advancements when in search of a local historical location . The volunteers are always friendly and polite so stop and and learn a little history about Des Plaines.