Stockton Heritage Museum

Stockton Heritage Museum Stockton Heritage Museum is a not-for-profit entity dedicated to the preservation of Stockton IL area history. or by appt.

Visit the museum on Sat 10-2 and Sun 11-2 May-Oct. Email us at [email protected] or leave a message at 815-947-2022.

05/29/2026

Still looking for a donation of some kid sized hangers. We have a lot of vintage kids clothes that need hanging up. If you have some you no longer need, we could use them. Thanks!

05/28/2026

Who has Atwoods items to donate? We are planning a window display and don't have a ton of stuff, even tho Atwoods was so important to our growth. So many of you spent your whole working life there. Do you have stories, photos, advertising, promo items, etc.?
Thanks for your help.

Have you seen our Sale Bill window display? We have 3 large old auction sale posters from our collection. What auctionee...
05/25/2026

Have you seen our Sale Bill window display? We have 3 large old auction sale posters from our collection. What auctioneers do you remember? Of course us 1970s folks know Jim Calhoun. He did so many auctions here in town. So many hay racks and crowds of bidders. Farm auctions were often sad affairs. But auctions were always a part of rural life. Equipment, livestock, household goods all could be had for either cheap or sky high.

What are your memories of auctioneers in the area? Were there any epic sales you attended? Any stories to share? We would love to compile a list of auctioneers from the early 1900s on to today.

Pete and Becky are here again today to share their archival newspaper project with all of you. He has his laptop and mon...
05/24/2026

Pete and Becky are here again today to share their archival newspaper project with all of you. He has his laptop and monitor all set up to show you how to do searches. Find forgotten stories about your relatives, friends and yourself! Some might be surprising. They are here 11-2.

05/23/2026

Pete Becker is set up ready to give you a personal tutorial on searching the newspapers. Come on down!

05/22/2026

SPECIAL VISITOR AT THE MUSEUM THIS WEEKEND!
Pete Becker will be visiting both days and will be sharing his very exciting NEWSPAPER SCANNING PROJECT with anyone who is interested.

He scanned all issues of the Stockton Herald-News so that all of us have access to all of the stories, articles, ads, obits, photos, etc. from years past. He can explain how to access them and answer any of your questions.

We are open Saturday 10-2 and Sunday 11-2. Stop in and say hi and find out about this impressive project and how to use it for your own research. We also set up a display of a variety of decades of actual Stockton Herald-News newspapers.

Thanks for visiting!
05/22/2026

Thanks for visiting!

Latest acquisition. "Looking north on Main Street" real photo postcard. Bought from ebay from a dealer in California. Th...
05/18/2026

Latest acquisition. "Looking north on Main Street" real photo postcard. Bought from ebay from a dealer in California. This is a card we had never seen before. It doesn't mean we don't have it buried in some file somewhere, but we hadn't laid eyes on it.

This is a fascinating look at a young Stockton, when the Railroad was new and Kraft was just getting established. All the hustle and bustle of merchants and shoppers. If you can tell any stories that you've heard of those early days, around 1918, share them. If you have old real photo postcards you would like to donate, we would love them. We haven't figured out how many we don't have, but we're sure there are quite a few.

Stop in on any weekend this summer to see our large display case of old postcards. We are working on inventorying them. Our goal is to get the entire Child's collection. Plus all the others.

Continuing our biography project, here is one of Stockton's most interesting women, Dr. Loretta Backus Lyons. You may ha...
05/17/2026

Continuing our biography project, here is one of Stockton's most interesting women, Dr. Loretta Backus Lyons. You may have seen the graphic of her in our upstairs windows over the past few years.

Loretta's grandfather traveled out to the Galena area in a covered wagon from the trading post called Chicago in the 1830s. He opened a sawmill just west of Galena. His son, E.M. was a popular Justice of the Peace. He married Samantha Townsend in 1860, who taught school for 12 years before the Civil War. They lived near Backus Mound north of Stockton. In 1862 Squire Backus joined the 17th Illinois Cavalry. He returned from the war and moved the family to Kansas.

Loretta was born in the town of Stockton, (Rush Township) Kansas, her father had named it. She began teaching at 16. In 1908 she started a 3 year course in Osteopathy. After that she continued with various courses in Boston and Chicago. In 1912 she set up her office in the Masonic building, directly above Hermann Brothers Undertaking & Furniture. She had a steady stream of patients and always introduced the most modern equipment. She used infrared, ultraviolet, vi*****rs, and diagnostic lights.

She was a member of the Board of Education of the National Women's Osteopathic Association. She was one of the organizers of the Col. Jo Daviess Chapter of the DAR. She was also the official physician of the Stockton Public School.

She married A.H. (Alec) Lyons in 1919 and they made many interesting trips together. They honeymooned at the Panama Canal, and driving up the west coast. Mr. Lyons had recently purchased a large home on the NE corner of Benton and Pearl. Loretta relocated her office to the Pearl Street side of the house where she practiced until she was in her mid 80s.

Dr. Backus Lyons served on many committees and volunteered for many clubs. She helped organize the Womens Club. She loved gardening and grew flowers for everyone to enjoy. Alec died in 1952 and Loretta in 1956. They are buried at Ladies Union Cemetery.

This drawing was from a Stockton Herald News newspaper clipping from July 31, 1929. It was part of a series done by Charles Sughroe for the Stockton Boosters. The biography comes from that article and from Volume 1 of Discovering Our Past, what we refer to as the Red Books.

We have a limited number of Red Books remaining for sale. Once they're gone, they're gone. The 2 Volume set is only $25. On sale at the Museum.

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Thank you everyone for your support and generous donations. Our brat stand was a big success.GET YOUR BRATS & HOT DOGS T...
05/09/2026

Thank you everyone for your support and generous donations. Our brat stand was a big success.

GET YOUR BRATS & HOT DOGS TIL 2PM. We've been doing a brisk business today out at Sullivan's. Leslie is taking over from Warren as grillmaster and there are plenty of folks to serve you. $4 brats, $3 large hot dog. Water and soda, $1. There's still plenty of time to load up. We've been selling 6 at a time and bagging them up. Load up with condiments and leave a tip if you can. Thanks to everyone who has stopped by.

Address

107 W Front Avenue PO Box 93
Stockton, IL
61085

Opening Hours

Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 11am - 2pm

Telephone

+18159472220

Website

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