Winnetka history museum makes rare change to primary exhibit

Moving can get heavy.

Not emotionally, it can literally weigh too much, as the Winnetka Historical Society team recently found out.

While working toward a much-needed exhibit change, curator Meagan McChesney and company could not move a large, historic desk. Instead of adjusting the exhibit around the desk, staff turned the desk — which belonged to local difference-maker Frank Windes, a pioneering village engineer — into a key attraction of the new display.

A recreation of Windes’ office is an important element to the museum’s new exhibit, A Sense of Place: A History of Winnetka, which is available for public viewing from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the museum, 411 Linden St. Two upcoming open houses will celebrate the exhibit: 2-4 p.m. on March 2 and 2-4 p.m. on March 16.

A Sense of Place is the museum’s first new permanent exhibit in 15 years. McChesney and company also rearranged the museum with the permanent exhibit moving to the front of the house and rotating exhibit to the back.

In the front room, A Sense of Place replaces Winnetka Treasures: 15 Decades, 15 Items, which was installed in 2019 and meant to be up for one year. The onset of COVID-19, however, closed the museum for two years (2020-’21), and when it reopened, McChesney said, Winnetka Treasures was kept.

The historical society then turned its focus to its traveling exhibit, Creating Communities: A History of the North Shore, which since 2023 has taken up temporary residence at the North Shore Senior Center, Winnetka Public Library and Community House. Portions of this exhibit are available in the rear room of the museum.

A Sense of Place was finished in 2024 and shines a light on the development of the community, breaking it down into seven sections: A Place to Settle, A Place to Grow, A Place to Live, A Place to Learn, A Place to Come Together, and A Place to Create and Innovate. The display also features information on preserving “our sense of place” and a look at the office of Frank Windes, who was the founder of the Winnetka Historical Society.

The Winnetka Historical Society is the steward of more than 30,000 local artifacts, most of them donated to the museum. Included in this exhibit are: the original town charter, a pressure gauge from the Municipal Power Plant (1917); a teller’s cage from the Bank of Max Meyer (1890s); and Victor, a Penny Farthing bicycle (1885).

Find out more about the exhibit on its dedicated webpage.

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