Elgin Public Museum

This century-old museum is the brain child of George and Mary Lord, two early Elgin philanthropists that gifted the museum and the beautiful park around it, Lord’s Park, to the city of Elgin. Construction started on this beautiful Greek Revival building, designed by David Postle, in 1907—but halted after both of the Lords passed away.

After being used to house the animals at the nearby zoo, and briefly becoming the city’s dog pound, the Elgin Audubon Society took over and the museum officially opened its doors on November 13th, 1920, making it the oldest building built to be a museum still functioning as such in the state of Illinois.

While one may get lost in the beauty of the building itself, over its life it has housed many weird and wonderful things. Many life-long Elginites remember the two-headed calf that the museum once had, as well as a three-eyed cat. While these oddities have since been removed from the museum, it is still home to specimens such as Nathan Leopold’s—yes, of the Leopold and Loeb murder—bird collection, an extinct passenger pigeon, a bear, and bison from the Lord’s Park zoo, original Victorian bird displays, and an ancient Irish Deer.