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This
museum is filled with a large assortment of items and artifacts ranging
from historical memorabilia to unusual oddities. The museum began with
the collection of biology professor Dr. Alice L. Kibbe and has continued
as a way to preserve items of historical significance to Hancock County.
Dr. Kibbe was head of Carthage College’s biology department from 1920 to
1956 and professor and curator of the college museum from 1956 to 1964,
when the college moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Realizing that many of the
items in the college museum should remain in Hancock County because of
their local provenance and significance, Dr. Kibbe purchased them and
then deeded her collection and her home (a historic property itself) to
the city of Carthage for a museum. The museum was originally located in
the Kibbe House and was moved in 1989 to a newly constructed building on
Walnut Street across the street from the historic Carthage Jail site.
The museum features historical displays of life in Hancock County,
Native Americans, pioneers, agriculture, exhibits on domestic life,
natural history in dioramas, fossils, minerals, and geodes. Oddities on
display include a black monkey muff, a two-headed pig, the right lower
jaw bone of a whale, and an old hand crank phone that plays a recorded
message, all of which are favorites with children.
Visiting the Kibbe Hancock Heritage
Museum
Visiting Hours
March - April:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays:
1 pm
- 4 pm
May - September: Monday -
Saturday: 10 am - 4 pm; Sunday: 1 pm - 4 pm.They are closed January and
February
October - December: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and
Sundays:
1 pm
- 4 pm
Closed January and
Februarym
There is no fee to visit the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum
Location:
The Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum is located near the center of
Carthage, IL one block south of Buchanan
Street (IL-136) and across the street from the historic Carthage Jail
site.
 Learn more about the
Nauvoo
area.
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