The Victorian Cottage Museum (formerly known as the Lombard Historical Museum) is an 1882 historic house museum that provides information and examples of a middle-class Victorian household as part of the history of Lombard.

The museum features four period rooms with décor from 1870-1885. In addition, the site also has an 1870 two-story carriage house that stores our archive and collection, a c.1860 three-seated privy, and Colonel Plum’s garden shed, originally on the site of Lilacia Park. Be sure to stop by the Emporium for gifts, Lombard souvenirs, and exhibits on Lombard history.

Directions: The Cottage is located at 23 W. Maple in Lombard, a few houses west of Main Street. We are across the street from the Helen Plum Library.

The Sheldon Peck Homestead is an 1839 historic house museum that offers visitors information on the pioneer way of life in Babcock’s Grove through exhibits, living history, educational programs, and outreach programs. The Village of Lombard has designated the Sheldon Peck Homestead as a local landmark.

n August 2011, the Sheldon Peck Homestead was inducted into the Network to Freedom – a list of verified Underground Railroad locations. Staff and volunteers worked over several years researching the Underground Railroad, genealogy and property lines near the Homestead, and Sheldon Peck’s art.

Sheldon Peck, a nationally recognized primitive folk art portrait painter, built the clapboard house in 1839 and resided there with his family until his death in 1868. Peck was a well-known advocate of the anti-slavery and temperance causes and the house is a verifiable safe house for freedom seekers prior to the Civil War. In addition, Peck was also an advocate for public education and the house is the site of the first public school in the area.

Remarkably, the Peck family continually owned the house from 1839 until the mid 1990s when it was restored as a museum.

Directions: The Homestead is located at 355 E. Parkside in Lombard, on the south west corner of Parkside and Grace Street - directly west of Lombard Common Park and Paradise Bay.

Sheldon Peck used his homestead in Babcock's Grove (now Lombard) to help Underground Railroad travelers. He was a radical abolitionist as were many of the townspeople in the area. Sheldon's youngest son, Frank Peck (born 1853), recalls as many as seven slaves at a time hidden in the house. Frank's diary tells of Old Charley, a memorable older slave who stayed at the Peck House on his way to freedom, and how little Frank sat on his knee asking him questions

Come to the Peck Homestead to see the portrait we believe is Old Charley, painted by Sheldon's daughter Susan! The locations where slaves were hidden at this site are not known. It is quite possible that Sheldon let them rest in the barn until they headed further north. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, Peck risked fines and imprisonment by carrying out the duties of "station master." Underground Railroad activities ceased with the passage of the 13th Amendment after the Civil War.

Directions: The Homestead is located at 355 E. Parkside in Lombard, on the south west corner of Parkside and Grace Street - directly west of Lombard Common Park and Paradise Bay.

The mission of the Society is to collect, preserve, interpret, and promote the history of Lombard and to advocate for our community’s heritage.

Founded in 1970, the Lombard Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership-based organization located in Lombard, Illinois. It operates two historic house museums and maintains an archive and artifact collection for research and interpretation. The LHS museums are primarily supported by a portion of the hotel/motel tax of Lombard. The LHS is governed by the Board of Management and operated by staff which includes one full-time director, three part-time employees, and dozens of regular volunteers and docents.

Lombard is located 20 miles west of Chicago's Loop in DuPage County, and was incorporated in 1869. The town was known as Babcock's Grove before 1869. It was settled in the 1830s following the removal of American Indians from northern Illinois after the Black Hawk War. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad first stopped in Lombard in 1849, forming a bedroom community for Chicago businessmen. In 1927, Col. William Plum bequeathed his world-renowned lilac collection and house to be the Village's first public park (designed by Jens Jensen) and library. Due to this gift, Lombard has since been known as the "Lilac Village" and in May 2010 celebrated the 80th Anniversary of Lilac Time festivities.