Museums
From hands-on learning to more traditional presentations, Galesburg has a little museum fun for everyone! Two floors await you and your littlest of adventurers at Galesburg’s Discovery Depot Children’s Museum. Far from the expected, it’s highly encouraged to touch, climb, create, and splash your way through the endless adventures awaiting inside. With their mission to “inspire, wonder, & excitement for learning,” your nonstop fun shop begins as soon as you walk through the door. Discovery Depot offers the best in productive playtime with fun twists on classic lessons in art, science, agriculture, banking, architecture, and so much more!
All Aboard! Spend an afternoon at the Galesburg Railroad Museum. An integral part of Knox County’s history, you’ll learn about how the success of the railroad provided a foundation for the longtime success of the Galesburg area. Stroll through the various artifacts and memorabilia or peruse the Memorial Wall Listings. It’s fun to learn about the historical happenings of Galesburg’s Railroad past.
At Knox College, you can still stand where Lincoln stood in 1858 as he debated the controversy – slavery – that had divided the country since its founding. Stand on the historic steps, walk through the hallways he trod, and touch the life mask on display in the halls of historic Old Main. Learn more about the complex history of the Lincoln era at the Whitcomb Heritage Center in the newly renovated Alumni Hall. Step into the building whose cornerstone was laid in 1890, and whose interior was rebuilt in 2014.
Home / Museums / CARL SANDBURG STATE HISTORIC SITE
CARL SANDBURG STATE HISTORIC SITE
313 E 3RD ST GALESBURG, IL 61401
Hours
Thursday & Friday: 1:00pm-5:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
About
The Carl Sandburg State Historic Site is the birthplace of Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Lincoln biographer, a children’s author and folk song collector. The small frame home, architecturally significant as a “workingman’s cottage,” contains three rooms—parlor, bedroom, and kitchen. Carl Sandburg was born here January 6, 1878. Several original family items are on display, along with other simple, utilitarian furnishings typical of the era. Behind the cottage is a tranquil garden where the ashes of Sandburg and his wife lie beneath a red granite boulder, “Remembrance Rock,” the title of his only novel. Benches and garden plantings contribute to the quiet solitude of the area. A series of flagstones inscribed with quotations from Sandburg’s writings is known as “Quotation Walk.” Also on the site is a two-story Greek Revival frame house built in 1858. The house currently serves as the site visitor center. On the main floor are a small video theater, the site office, a museum shop, public restroom, and small exhibit gallery.
