Lakeshore Exhibit Opens at Historical Museum

“NEW LAKEFRONT EXHIBIT OPENS AT HISTORICAL MUSEUM”

“Cooler by the Lake” shares stories and artifacts on the history of Wilmette’s lakefront

Sunday, November 6, 2011

2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

On Sunday, November 6, 2011, the Wilmette Historical Museum will host an opening reception for “Cooler by the Lake,” a fascinating new exhibit highlighting the rich history of Wilmette’s lakefront. The reception will be from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The Museum is located at 609 Ridge Road. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibit will run through the autumn 2012.

            Wilmette’s earliest settlers knew a lakeshore of high, wooded bluffs overlooking a lake whose waves were steadily eroding away the bare shoreline. There were no harbors, no piers, no breakwaters, and only a few narrow strips of sand to serve as a beach. That landscape has changed dramatically over time, profoundly transforming the relationship between Wilmette’s citizens and their lakefront.  The Wilmette Historical Museum’s new exhibit, “Cooler by the Lake,” takes a lighthearted but informative look at that relationship, from the village’s early days to the present.

            Visitors will encounter the colorful stories of the people who transformed the lakeshore, from Pearl B. Martin, who campaigned to make Wilmette Beach respectable, to Carbon Petroleum Dubbs, who pushed through the building of Wilmette’s water plant, to Benjamin Marshall, whose lavish lakeside mansion provided the first real home to Wilmette’s new yacht club. Wilmette’s beach fashions are likewise on display, from a wool bathing costume of the Roaring Twenties to an itsy-bitsy bikini of the Swinging Sixties. Maps, video, artwork, and digital imagery all help to tell such stories as the astonishing engineering feat that led to the Sanitary Canal and the creation of Gillson Park, the dramatic vista of Suicide Hill in wintertime, and the bizarre tale of the “Port of Missing Men,” a clubhouse (with cannon!) that once floated in Wilmette Harbor. “Cooler by the Lake” explores all of these stories and more.

Related Programs

            The Museum will offer a variety of exciting, lakefront-related programs in 2012, including a lecture on the Benjamin Marshall house and studio that once dominated Wilmette’s harbor and a presentation about the wreck of the Lady Elgin, the greatest open-water disaster in the history of the Great Lakes.  Tours will include an introduction to the inner workings of Wilmette’s beautiful water plant, a lakeshore housewalk, and walking tours of the lakefront.  Check our website for details.

About the Wilmette Historical Museum

The Wilmette Historical Museum is dedicated to exploring, preserving, and sharing the lively history of Wilmette and its surroundings on the North Shore of Chicago. Located in a beautiful 1896 landmark building at 609 Ridge Road in Wilmette, the Museum is operated by the Wilmette Historical Society, a volunteer organization, and by the Village of Wilmette. If you or your family has a connection to this area, we encourage you to join the Society. Joining supports the work of the Museum and brings you many benefits. For more information about the Wilmette Historical Society, visit www.wilmettehistory.org.

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