New exhibit explores Des Plaines house architecture

Often people who visit the Des Plaines History Center are new residents or those who grew up in town and are coming back for a visit.

In both cases, they're interested in finding out more about the history of their homes and neighborhoods, said Philip Mohr, the history center's curator.

That was the impetus for Mohr to create a new exhibit, "Des Plaines Architecture: An Exhibit About Our Homes and City," which opened last week and will be on display until the end of the year at the history center's visitor center.

"I think people are interested in architecture because the built environment is the setting for everything we do," Mohr said. "Looking at it more closely will give people a sense of place, and they'll be able to appreciate their community in a different way."

The exhibit traces back the development of homes in Des Plaines to the city's early days. Yellowed subdivision plat documents are displayed, showing how Des Plaines grew as it annexed more and more subdivisions, such as Parsons and Lee, Cumberland, Riverview and Orchard Place.

White settlers in the 1830s built log cabins, and later wood frame homes as the railroad came through in the 1850s. There was some Greek revival architecture, but mostly Queen Anne revival homes near what is now the downtown area. Most of those homes are gone now, Mohr said, but one prominent example is the history center's very own Kinder House at Pearson Street and Prairie Avenue.

According to Mohr, the craftsman era of the 1900s through the 1920s brought bungalows, Dutch colonials, four-square style homes and Sears homes.

After World War II, one-story and split-level ranches became most common.

Then, condominiums near downtown started popping up, with the first one built at Ida and Jefferson streets in 1969.

The exhibit includes touch screen displays where visitors can find out more about individual types of homes and neighborhoods, as well as civic and community building architecture, like city hall, the library, and the failed Superblock downtown mall (1977-1996).

Through April, a display of Stan Kotecki's photos of the Historic Methodist Campground accompanies the exhibit. It features about a dozen photos of campground buildings at different times of the year.

The campground, located at 1900 E. Algonquin Road, was established in 1860 as a meeting point for traveling Methodists. The 35-acre site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The free exhibit at the visitors center, 781 Pearson St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays.