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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Ice Cream Social - Saturday, September 7th!
Be sure to join us on Saturday, September 7th for our Annual Ice Cream social supporting the Kruse House Museum. Tickets are $5.00 each and can be purchased in advanced from a Historical Society Board Member, at the Kruse House Museum, the West Chicago City Museum or at the entrance of the Kruse House on the day of the event. You can also purchase a ticket online for $5.50 at https://tinyurl.com/KruseIceCream. For full details visit our Events Page.
Our business members 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
