Browse Exhibits (18 total)

Buffalo Grove Days: Celebrating Community

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Buffalo Grove Days has been a community celebration since the 1960s. It has been a good place to make friends, meet neighbors, and celebrate everything Buffalo Grove. Events have included a parade, homemakers contest, and race! Explore the history of event and what it means to our community. 

Buffalo Grove's First Neighborhood

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The first neighborhood in Buffalo Grove wasn't built until the late 1950s. Al Frank, local builder, built the first neighborhood along Bernard Drive. After that, the predominantly farmland became neighborhoods and shopping centers in the following years. Learn more about this transitional time in "The First Neighborhood" exhibit.

Day in the Life of a Buffalo Grove Kid, C. 1910

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The Chicago suburbs were not always the bustling, packed places they are today. They were much quieter, smaller, and stinkier - That is if you were a kid on a dairy farm in Buffalo Grove, Illinois! Explore what a day would be like for a child, 7-8 years old, that lived in Buffalo Grove in 1910.  

Five Days at the Firnbach & Raupp General Store

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The Firnbach & Raupp General Store was an essential part of the Buffalo Grove community. It was the place where residents purchased food, farming equipment and household items. It also served as a place of social gathering, as one would often meet friends when shopping. This summer, seventy eight receipts from September 1, 1919 to September 5, 1919 were catalogued by Ari, a Buffalo Grove High School senior. This exhibit displays items purchased during five days at the Firnbach & Raupp General Store.

Illinois Women Win the Vote

Women's Suffrage Poster 1913

The first woman to vote in Illlinois was considered so radical she shocked a man backwards into a barrel. A second man witnessing the event had a fit, and a third was struck speechless. The year was 1891.

While Illinois law limited voting rights to men, a loophole in Lombard's village charter allowed all citizens to vote. Miss Ellen Martin, a lawyer and resident of Lombard, realized the possibilites. On Election Day, she led a group of 14 prominent women to the polling place and demanded to vote. While women's votes were counted for that election, Lombard city officials quickly changed laws to match the state law.

The struggle for women's right to vote in Illinois would continue for the next 20 years.

Keep Your Receipts: Shopping In Buffalo Grove 100 Years Ago

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When you need the essentials today, there is no limit to the store options you have and the variety of brands to choose from for your clothes, cleaning supplies, food, or even coffee maker. 

After shopping, how long would you keep your receipts for? A few minutes, a day, the end of the month? The Weidner General Store in Buffalo Grove kept receipts for many months, tracking shoppers credits. Now 100 years later, those receipts tell us about what people bought, how much, and the variety of goods they could pick up at their store in Buffalo Grove. 

Take time in this online exhibit to explore some old receipts, try to dissect the handwritting (its harder than you think), and compare what looks similar or different from your weekly shopping list.  

Keeping in Touch

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Today there are many ways that we can communicate with our friends and family. We understand the importance of keeping in touch, sharing important information, and updating each other on the latest changes in our lives.  This principle has been important for friends and families for hundreds of years, the methods just took different form. In this exhibit, explore how two sisters stayed in touch over 100 years ago. 

Key To Communication

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The people of Buffalo Grove have always found ways to communicate with family, friends, and colleagues. Even when Buffalo Grove residents were only a few farming families in the 1850s, they would send letters through private carriers, since government delivery facilities were very limited. By 1900, there were a couple ways to communicate via the spoken or written word. Explore a few of those communication technologies over the past 100 years in Buffalo Grove.

New Objects at the Museum

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Explore recently donated items into the Museum's collection! Learn how to donate an item to the Museum and what we consider when accepting donations. 

Opening the Blue Box

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Are you interested in learning more about the Museums collection? Do you ever wonder what we have in our storage that isn't on display? Explore the Raupp Museum's collection one blue box at a time. This is an ongoing program that will be updated every other month.

Check back for more videos - we have over 200 boxes to open!