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Monday 2pm - 4pm Wednesday 2pm - 4pm Friday 2pm - 4pm Saturday 10am - 5pm Sunday 2pm - 5pm

Batavia Depot Museum

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Batavia, IL
Batavia Depot Museum

Bridging History and Heart
open M, W, F 2-4 & Sa, Su 10-5
local history, human stories

Permanent exhibits include railroad history, windmill industry, early settlers, Mary Todd Lincoln at Bellevue Place, and interactive exhibits in a 1907 CB&Q caboose. We are located next to the Fox River Bike Trail and the Batavia Riverwalk - plan to spend the day!

05/29/2026

Far out! These yellow pages have become…tie dye?!

Today’s Flat File Friday features a 1974 phone book for the Illinois Bell Telephone Company. Many Batavians will remember a time when we still used phonebooks, and Bell definitely provided for this era.

The Illinois Bell Telephone Company began in 1878, but still exists today as a subsidiary of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph Co.). During the early Seventies when this phonebook was published, Bell employed roughly 36,000 people from the Chicagoland area - a massive source of local jobs. AT&T, its parent group, was the largest company in the world during the decade until the “Breakup of the Bell System,” a monumental antitrust settlement in 1984. Today, Bell still operates under AT&T Illinois and provides telecommunication services.

All legality aside, today’s phonebook serves as a reminder of more familiar memories: rotary phones, numbers scrawled on scraps of paper, and waiting for that one sibling to get off the family line!!

To check out this flat file and many more, be sure to visit the Depot Museum’s vast collection today! We’re open Mon, Wed, Fri 2-4pm and Sat, Sun 10-5pm.

05/27/2026

Who said firefighting couldn’t be a classy affair? 👔

For the gents in this photo from 1913, this was standard dress uniform for the Batavia Fire Department!

Visible here in this image are the fourteen East Side volunteers, posing with the fire hose beside the old Louise White School, now Music Matters School. In this era of early firefighting, Batavia was split into two camps - the East Siders and the West Siders, each complete with their own “hose house.” All firemen joined together for every emergency though, and in the case of a fire on one side of the river, the other side would race to the central hose house on the Island to grab the shared hose on their way to the flames. Before too long, the two sides began to develop a rivalry over who could carry out their central house duty the fastest!

The rivalry wasn’t to stand forever, though. Our pictured brigade would only last another four years, until the first motorized fire hose was purchased in 1917. By that point, the need for two regional brigades dissipated. The Fire Department then consolidated its resources on the Island, keeping its sole station there until the late 1980s.

Perhaps we could run the idea of ties by Fire Chief Hanson and carry on the legacy…

Interested in more Fire Department history? Check out this photo and more at the Batavia Depot Museum today! We’re open Mon, Wed, Fri 2 - 4pm and Sat, Sun 10am - 5pm.

05/20/2026

Wayback Wednesday. Happy Graduation to the High School class of 2026! Today's Wayback post is a handshake across a hundred years from the BHS class of 1926. 🎓🎉

J. B. Nelson was the Principal and H. C. Storm the Superintendent. Both men have elementary schools named in their honor.

05/08/2026

Can you imagine a frozen cube of the Fox River in your beverage? 🧊

Today’s flat file comes from the Batavia Pure Ice Company in the form of a coupon book. Wondering how such an item was used back in the day? No sweat!

These kinds of books could be purchased directly from an ice company for a set quantity of product (in this case 25lbs). Many of these companies once operated on the Fox River to glean its expanse of fresh, cuttable ice in the winter. Once stored in a cool “ice house,” the product was ready for delivery year-round. Whenever Batavians needed more ice for preserving foods in a household ice box, they could hang a company side in their window indicating their need. Then, a deliveryman would come by, spot the sign, deliver the ice, and take the coupons in a customer’s booklet as an easy payment. The coupon book was a win-win for both sides - customers expected ice as a regular expense and could justify a payment covering the future, and the deliverymen could find payment as quick and simple as a coupon card so that no time was wasted.

The Batavia Pure Ice Company appears to be a relatively short-lived business. Its documentation is scarce, but it does appear in business directories between 1931 and 1937. At this point in time however, the age of ice delivery was waning in favor of a new, self-sufficient consumer appliance growing in popularity since the 1920s… the refrigerator! No need for ice delivery when the machine can do it itself.

If only we could take the first five minutes of Disney’s Frozen and make a movie out of just that. This historian would be mighty interested! 🤔

…

If you enjoyed today’s Flat File Friday, be sure to visit the Depot Museum’s vast collection today! We’re open Mon, Wed, Fri 2-4pm and Sat, Sun 10-5pm.

05/06/2026

Wayback Wednesday. The Challenge Windmill & Feed Mill Co. was founded in Batavia in 1863 during a time of national instability and tremendous population growth. Batavia Historian John Gustafson notes, "the village of Batavia grew from a population of 1,621 in 1860 to 2,639 in 1880, an increase of more than one thousand."

Nelson Burr and Hugh M. Armstrong established the company to manufacture the Nichols windmill and Burr's own patented metal feed mill. In two years the company grew from just two employees to thirty to forty. By the time this picture was taken in the 1890s they employed 200 people.

At their height, the company made steel and wooden windmills, steel towers, kerosene and gasoline engines, silage cutters, corn shellers, feed grinders, wood saws, wood and steel tanks, pumps and fittings, pump jacks, lawn and porch swings, settees, water tanks and towers. They even provided Batavia's original water main system in 1894.

05/02/2026

Passports are in! Stop by the Batavia Depot Museum during open hours and pick up your very own KDRMA Passport to Adventure and start your journey exploring museums, art centers, zoos and more across all of Kane & DuPage counties. Get your passport stamped at each location and track your adventure throughout the year.

This year, we also have the limited edition American 250 Passport to Illinois (while supplies last) that can take you across the state in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Track your journey to sites like the Pullman National Historical Park and the , and even your favorite local history spots like the Batavia Depot Museum.

Both passports are available at the front desk of the museum during open hours: MWF 2-4 pm and SaSu 10 am-5 pm. Come soon and see our Spring exhibit "To Secure These Rights" and learn about the ways Batavians have defended Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness throughout history.

05/01/2026

Special delivery! 💌

Today’s flat file comes straight from John M. Purdum, a shoe salesman located at 237 West Wilson Street. Purdum worked in the business from the latter half of the 19th century until his retirement in 1905.

Color print advertisements like this one became especially popular during the late 19th century as advancements in color lithography made it both easy and cheap to print graphic product labels or trade cards like today’s resource. Scores of big-name businesses from nearby Chicago could now peddle and mail their trade cards across the country, and the technique spread to smaller towns to continue the wave of marketing success.

To what degree dogs have to do with shoes is a little unclear, but it’s hard to deny the appeal of some good ol’ puppy eyes!

04/22/2026

Wayback Wednesday. Happy Earth Day! Today's Wayback photo shows Fermilab employees planting trees in "Wilson Woods" in front of Wilson Hall, May 1st, 1990.

04/13/2026

It was so fun celebrating Batavia's artistic community at the All-City Fine Arts Festival last weekend. We loved meeting so many talented creatives interested in local history. Thank you to our young artists who made morse code bracelets with us. We love when we can bring art and history together!

Come learn about morse code and the other ways railroad workers communicated over the roar of the trains at the Museum. Open hours are MWF 2-4 pm and SaSu 10 am-5 pm and admission is always free!

Address

155 Houston Street
Batavia, IL
60510

Opening Hours

Monday	2pm - 4pm
Wednesday	2pm - 4pm
Friday	2pm - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 5pm
Sunday	2pm - 5pm

Telephone

(630) 406-5274

Website

https://bataviaparks.org/batavia-depot-museum

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