Museum History

Louise Beem and Dorothy Carpenter, two early childhood educators from Hinsdale, founded the DuPage Children's Museum (DCM) in 1987. Their purpose was to provide open ended, interactive learning experiences for young children focusing on math, science and art and where they intersect.

1988 - The Museum and its exhibits traveled to park districts, scout troops, preschools and other organizations and served 2,664 visitors. Some of the early traveling exhibits, such as Ramps and Rollers, still draw crowds today.

1989 - DCM opened a temporary location in the Elmhurst Park District. Each morning, Museum workers had to take the exhibits out of a storage area and assemble them, and at the end of the day, reverse the process. Even in this temporary locale, the Museum attracted 7080 visitors this year.

1990 - The Museum moved from a strictly volunteer run organization to one with paid staff by hiring its first part-time employee, Ebie Morris.

1991 - The Museum's four full-time and part-time staff members and 148 volunteers hosted over 15,000 visitors.

1992 - A full-time pilot location for the Museum was established in the Wheaton Park District Community Center. With this change in location, DCM was able to be open more hours, and move from seasonal to year-round operation. The Museum attracted Hillary Clinton, who spoke to a crowd of 250, in September of 1992. In November, the Explorer Store opened.

1993 - DCM established a school outreach program to bring hands-on learning labs to area classrooms. This highly acclaimed program continues to serve more than 20,000 students per year in 44 school districts.

1994 - Attendance surged to almost 115,000, which prompted the Museum to begin searching for a permanent location.

1996 - A severe July thunderstorm, which produced up to 16 inches of rain in surrounding communities, caused flooding in the Museum, forcing it to close for extensive repairs and renovations.

1997 - Aunty Math (presidential award winning Naperville math teacher Angela Andrews) debuted on the new DCM web site, posing math problems as real-life stories, and inviting children to submit answers. In September, the Museum acquired the site of the former Moser Lumber Showroom and Office located at 301 N. Washington Street, in Naperville.

1998 - The Museum opened two new exhibits at the Wheaton location - Kidnetic Motion Machine and Fish Out of Water, the first in a series of exhibits for the planned Creativity Connections Neighborhood. Planning began for the renovation of the Naperville site and the types of hands-on exhibits that could be developed for the new space.

1999 - DCM opened the groundbreaking new AirWorks for Kids exhibit in the Wheaton location, based on a National Science Foundation research grant on children's perceptions about air. Exhibits were prototyped and tested for the larger AirWorks neighborhood planned for the new Museum, while architectural panning and fundraising began in earnest for the extensive renovation project.

2000 - New building construction began in Naperville, with contractor selection, structural evaluations and cost estimations. A groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction was held in April.

2001 - The Wheaton location closed on March 31, while construction continued in the new location. The new DuPage Children's Museum opened in Naperville on May 19, to the delight of area families.

2002 - DuPage Children's Museum experienced success in the new Naperville location with over 300,000 visitors and 11,000 members in the first year of operation. The Museum also opened its third Young Explorer's exhibit neighborhood, specifically designed for children under two years of age. With the addition of this exhibit, DCM truly became the leading early childhood Museum in the Chicago region.

2003 - On September 15, the Museum celebrated the opening of the new exhibit, My Home, My Place, on the upper level of the Museum. This exhibit was very well received by the public and focused on children's artistic interpretations of their homes.

2004 - On December 21, the Museum celebrated its millionth visitor family since relocating to the Naperville location! "This is an incredibly exciting milestone for DuPage Children's Museum," said Susan Broad, Museum Executive Director. "Not only does this indicate what a significant impact the Museum has on this community, it also demonstrates how popular the Museum is with young children and their families. Over the past three years, we have welcomed visitors from all 50 states including almost every part of Illinois."

2005 – The Museum unveiled a new layout, with several exhibit enhancements, including “A Bridge Above”, based on the covered bridges over Naperville’s Riverwalk, allowing a crawl-through experience for young visitors to gain a lofty, yet safe, perspective over the Build It and AirWorks exhibit neighborhoods. Other changes included movement of the Family Resource Center to the upper level; updates to exhibits in Creativity Connections (Freeze Your Shadow, Light Garden, Paint With Light, the Family Theatre (where Tiny Great PerformancesTM are held) and an improved Color Booth; plus addition of both a comfortable lunchroom area and new birthday party rooms on the lower level.  DCM also became the first children’s museum to offer its own education-oriented web log or blog.

2006 - The "Year of the Museum" was a busy one for DCM! With some 300,000 visitors per year, DCM was named one of Chicagoland's top 10 cultural attractions by Crain's Chicago Business, in March. On May 1, DCM opened Jump to Japan:  Discovering Culture through Popular Art which introduced visitors to Japanese culture through hands-on activities based on popular Japanese art forms.  This traveling exhibit appeared in only 3 locations throughout the United States, and occupied the entire upper level of the Museum through a busy summer. This exhibit was part of the celebration for DuPage Children's Museum's 5th Anniversary in Naperville. On September 16, a new Interact With Art Gallery, Animals in ArtLand: Wild Wings opened on the upper level. This original gallery was an eclectic display of kinetic sculptures, collages and paintings from all over North America and received top reviews. It remained open until August 26, 2007.

2007 - DCM celebrates its 20th Anniversary, as the place where learning comes in to playTM! Special events included a record-breaking Imagination Celebration Ball on April 21, ACM national "Focus In Play" conference on May 9, dedication of the new "Parting the Prarie" Century Walk sculpture in front of DCM on May 18, free admission anniversary celebration to honor both founders on June 24 (this also included two Gustafer Yellowgold performances), and a huge 20th Anniversary Bubble Bash concert for families on December 31, with the Imagination Movers.

Today - DuPage Children's Museum has three floors which hold interactive exhibits, event, meeting, party or program rooms and Learning Labs. There is truly something for everyone! Come visit us soon, to explore and discover how DCM continues to change and meet the needs of the communities we serve!

Contact DCM           Job Openings         Volunteer Opportunities