Connecting a Community: How One Railroad Shaped a Small Town

The Sycamore History Musuem’s new exhibit is up and it’s titled, “Connecting a Community: How One Railroad Shaped a Small Town.”. This exhibit looks at how the railroad impacted people, local businesses, manufacturing companies, and provided amazing opportunities for people in our community.

It all started when the Sycamore & Cortland (S&C), a five-mile spur, line that opened in 1859. It brought settlers, businesses, and manufacturers to Sycamore, which in-turn brought additional and larger railroad companies to town. In 1883 the Chicago & North Western came to Sycamore, and in 1887 the Chicago Great Western arrived on north side of town. Without this first railroad, the community would have dried up and disappeared, passed over by the progress of the Illinois prairie.

This is a family friendly exhibit that will include a train table, interactives with an old fashioned Sears catalog and much more.

Sycamore’s history is a rich treasure of stories that includes men, women and children, ordinary and extraordinary from 150 years ago to yesterday. Based on the resources in the Sycamore History Museum’s collection, exhibits are created to share these stories with visitors. All of the exhibits are research based, and are complemented with programs to further expand upon the exhibit themes. All of the exhibits have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Association of Museums.

The Sycamore History Museum is located at 1730 N. Main Street in Sycamore. Their hours are Tuesday –Thursday and Saturday: 10 a.m.–3 p.m. / Friday, Sunday and Monday closed.