Glencoe School Days, Old Glencoe Exhibits open March 12th at Eklund Center
Posted on Feb 24, 2006 in categories Events, Exhibits, Press Releases
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The Glencoe Historical Society invites the entire village to its grand opening March 12th from 2–4 p.m. at the Eklund History Center, 377 Park Ave.
After nine months of renovation, the Eklund Center museum will reopen with two new exhibits: Glencoe School Days and Old Glencoe. The two are filled with artifacts, letters and photographs depicting Glencoe through the years.
Glencoe School Days starts by looking at the various schools Glencoe has had through the years from the white wooden sided building that eventually became a home to an orphaned family to West School, the last of Glencoe’s four existing buildings, constructed in 1957. Photos and artifacts show the development of the local schools as the population of the village increased and declined. When North School was closed because of student enrollment declines, a hallowed tradition of lunchtime was ended. Where children used to go home for an hour and a half lunch, busing and eating at school became the norm.
Graduation dresses from the 1930s and 1980s show how designs have changed, and so do report cards. Desks have changed from those attached to the floor and shared by two or more pupils to ones that could be moved around the room as the teacher and class preferred.
Also on display is the development of the village from a town named Taylorsport, where wagons were pulled by oxen and horses, dinner was game shot by the man of the house, and the main building was a stagecoach stop—the LaPier House inn to today’s Glencoe—with impressive homes. Artifacts of the era 1830–1900 are on display in this new exhibit that highlights Glencoe’s founding and early settlement.
The gala reopening of the Eklund Center comes after nine months of refurbishment—painting, ultra violet coverings on the windows and restaining of the floors—at the museum, which used to be the home of the Eklund Furniture and Interior Design workshop. Also on display are the workbench of Carl Eklund and his family and exhibits on Wieneck’s Hardware, the village’s longest lasting business.