306 Walnut Street
Carthage, Illinois
217-357-3119
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 February
There is no fee to visit the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum
Explore the community of Carthage
