There’s only one place in the world where you can find a two-headed calf born on a Carthage farm, a twelve-foot whale jaw bone from Puget Sound, and an 18-star flag made in honor of Abraham Lincoln.
That place is the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum at 306 Walnut St. in Carthage.
The museum began with the natural history collections of Dr. Alice Kibbe, longtime professor and chair of the biology department at the former Carthage College.
Upon her retirement in 1964, Kibbe donated her home, biological specimens, and preserved animals to the city of Carthage, including the whale jaw bone that she had strapped to the hood of her car and driven back to Illinois from the Pacific northwest.
Those were on display for decades in Kibbe’s home, until the growing collection needed a larger space.
“A plan started to build a museum,” said museum volunteer Joy Swearingen. “So the first room was built and it has just grown and grown.”
The new building opened in 1989.
Swearingen said the museum – which is across the street from the historic Carthage Jail -- draws visitors from near and far.
It’s a sprawling and eclectic tribute to every aspect of life in Hancock County over centuries.
“I think it’s a treasure because it really shows where we have come from, what our lives were like, and the hard work, the effort, that went into what we have now,” Swearingen said.
There are exhibits about farming, education, fashion, military and church history and vignettes including a Victorian parlor, country kitchen, classroom, post office, doctor’s office and various medical relics.
“When the new hospital was built in 2009, we acquired a lot of items off the exterior of the building, and actually the entrance to the display looks like the entrance to the former Memorial Hospital,” Swearingen said.
Swearingen says nearly everything in the museum has been donated by local families, but some items are on loan, like a 1910 Burg Touring Car that was built in Dallas City.
“We really want this to be a full Hancock County museum so there are special things like a drum from an old high school band from Bowen and there are replicas of the covered bridge by Hamilton,” Swearingen said.
In 2011, the Kibbe acquired all collections from the former Illinois Funeral Directors Association Museum.
That includes Abraham Lincoln burial items, historic mourning clothes, information about the funeral train from Washington D.C. to Illinois, and replicas of the White House and Lincoln’s casket.
“I like the displays that show the route the train carrying Lincoln’s body took through the country and other displays that show how at each location people came out to pay their respects as he traveled through their towns on his way to his final resting place,” Swearingen said.
The Kibbe has also curated a look at Lincoln’s visits to Hancock County over the progression of his life including cases he tried in the county.
The museum displays the flag made locally in 1858 when Lincoln delivered a speech on the Carthage square.
Alongside that are exhibits about the men from Hancock County who served in the Civil War.
The Kibbe Museum is open from April to October, from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday and from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Admission is free but donations are accepted.
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