Naper Settlement, established in 1969, is a outdoor history museum accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

that consists of a collection of thirty historical buildings and structures from the

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

area. Many buildings were moved here from their original locations and refurbished in a style fitting of their time periods that range from 1831, when Naperville was founded, through the early 20th century. Visitors can come for hands-on activities and tours led by museum educators in period costumes. The Settlement is situated on land bequeathed to the City of Naperville in 1936 by Caroline Martin Mitchell.

Martin Mitchell Mansion

The Martin Mitchell Mansion, known to the original owners as Pine Craig, is a historic residence. The 12-room house was built with materials from Naperville businesses and stone from

DuPage River The DuPage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Des Plaines River in the U.S. state of Illinois. Course The river begins as two indi ...

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

. George Martin II was the son of an immigrant from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and made his fortune by taking advantage of local resources. He made agriculture his first venture, cultivating a farm and gradually expanding his land holdings to 1,000

acres The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...

. Martin then developed a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

quarry along the DuPage, which became very successful in 1871 due to the high demand for stone after the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

. He made his riches after he co-founded Naperville Tile and Brick Works, which eventually output over one million bricks and one million tiles. The tile was primarily used to drain swamps for farming. Martin operated his end of the business in his new home upon its 1883 construction. He named the house Pine Craig, and his family members lived in the house until 1936. The house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975. The mansion is now part of Naper Settlement and underwent an extensive restoration from 2000 to 2003.

Programs and activities

Naper Settlement is an outdoor history museum that offers numerous other large special events. From 1982 until 2019, this included Civil War Days, a two-day reenactment, where the settlement was converted into a large encampment and more than 300 actors and actresses at a time re-enacted historical life and battles. Other special events had included Christkindlmarket and NaperLights. both of which were also cancelled in 2019.

Public funding

In 2014, Naper Settlement was one of 47 Illinois museums to receive funding from the Illinois Public Museum Capital Grants Program as part of the state's larger construction initiative."Naper Settlement receives funding from the Illinois Public Museum Capital Grants Program"
Retrieved December 15, 2017.

References

;Sources
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Pine Craig
;Citations

External links

Naper Settlement Official Site
{{coord, 41.7689, -88.1526, dim:250_region:US-IL, display=title Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois Living museums in Illinois Museums in DuPage County, Illinois History of Naperville, Illinois Houses in DuPage County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Naperville, Illinois