The Kruse House and Garden
An American four-square house built in 1917 and now owned and maintained by the West Chicago Historical Society, the Kruse House was the home of Frederick Kruse, a ticket collector for the Chicago & North Western Railway, his wife Bertha, and their daughter, Celia. Although lived in by Celia until her death in 1975, the house overwhelmingly reflects the tastes and life-style of a typical middle-class American family between the two world wars, the result perhaps of a conscious attempt by Bertha and Celia to preserve within their home the memory of Frederick, who died in 1933. With virtually all of its original furnishings, placed as when lived in by Celia, the Kruse House offers visitors a singularly authentic experience of the past. The large and elaborate garden, the center of Celia’s life, with its original rock terraces and lily pond, has been restored and is maintained by the West Chicago Garden Club.
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Thank you!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make our September Ice Cream Social a success! We welcomed many to the house for tours and enjoyed treats on the lawn. Thank you to everyone who attended, baked, volunteered, donated items to the raffle and sponsored the event, especially Prosek’s Greenhouse, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Pizza by the Slice.
Our business members also help support our year-round work and we say thank you: Buck Services, Haggerty Ford, Norris-Segert Funeral Home, and Rite Way Auto.
“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
