Our History
The Mission of the Grundy County Historical Society is to provide a permanent location to house, preserve, and display objects pertaining to the county’s past including items of a cultural, social, geological, and anthropological nature.
The Historical Society was organized in 1923. The initial collection was displayed in a few handmade cases in the basement of the Grundy County Courthouse. Eventually in 2001, the Society rented a storefront on Liberty Street in Morris.
Then, in 2008, space was purchased in the historic Coleman Hardware Building and our Museum was fully realized. After 84 years, the collection finally had a permanent home. In 2018 we added an additional 5,000 square feet for display, storage and research purposes. We offer private tours of the museum and the Caboose with 24 hours notice. In addition the Museum has a meeting room which can comfortably seat up to 10 people around a conference table or 30 people in auditorium seating for use before or after a tour.
Our Board of Directors
We would like to welcome our new Board member, Wayne Duerkes. At our Annual Meeting on May 20, 2025, we also re-elected Lisa Barkley, Carter Corsello and Karen Zelko.
If you live in Grundy County and are interested in becoming a Board member, please contact the Museum.
- Kirk Houchin (2026), President
- Carter Corsello (2028), Vice President
- Karen Zelko (2028)
- Lisa Barkley (2028), Secretary
- Karen Avalos (2027)
- Wayne Duerkes (2026)
- Mike Schwer (2027)
- Ken Willis (2026)
- Duane Wolfe (2027)
We would like to thank our Board member who retired in May:
- Donna Sroczynski had been a Board member from 2008. She was the Board President from 2008 through 2020. Thank you, Donna, for all of the time and effort you dedicated to the Museum.
Our Staff/Volunteers
Staff
- Debbie Steffes, Curator
- Mary Collins, Executive Director
- Mary Lee Howard, Event Coordinator
Weekly Volunteers
- Don Brown
- Patrick Callahan
- Marion Gore
- Joey Heil
- Kirk Houchin
- John Zappia
- James Steger
- Kathy Vogen
- Meghan Kelly
- Melissa Perino
Key Donors Calendar Year 2025
The Museum would like to recognize the financial contributions from the following individuals/organizations. Without their support we would not be able to keep our doors open.
Special thanks to:
- 15,000 +
- City of Morris
- $1,000 – $14,999
- Marion Gore
- Wendy’s Restaurant
- Illinois Humanities
- Morris Lions Club
- GFWC-IL Morris Woman’s Club
- $100 – $999
- Tim Beck
- Art Hornsby
- Shawn Hornsby
- Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE)
- Junk in the Trunk
- Goose Lake Prairie Partners
Our Community Sponsors
A special thank you to our local communities that have become members of the Museum.