Rockford, IL: Midway Village Museum

I always like to visit the local history museum when exploring a new place, as I did in Rockford, Illinois at the Midway Village Museum.  Known as "Rockford's History Museum" it details the origins of Rockford from women's professional softball, the machine tool industry, and most importantly the history of the sock monkey!  In addition to the traditional style museum, a 26 building village is also on-site depicting a typical northern Illinois town from the late 19th century.

"Rockford's History Museum" includes an outdoor village

I began with the village, which was equally as stunning as Klehm Arboretum was in the gorgeous snowfall we experienced during our trip.  The village is open during the warmer months where visitors can take guided tours through the buildings by a cast of costumed interpreters.  During the winter months we were still able to walk around the village, admire the historical buildings, and enjoy the winter scenery.

A 26 building village is the highlight of the museum

More of the village

After the winter stroll through the village, we headed inside to the museum complex where our history lesson of Rockford began.  We started with The Missing Link: Socks, Monkeys  and Rockford's Industrial Past.  One of the most famous inhabitants of Rockford is of course the sock monkey, and the Midway Village Museum has an entire exhibit dedicated to the history of the sock monkey.  We learned everything from how the socks were manufactured to how they ended up being made into sock monkey's and eventually became famous.

Sock Monkey history!

Next to the sock monkey exhibit was The Girls of Summer, an entire section dedicated to women's professional softball in Rockford, home of the championship winning Rockford Peaches.  This was followed by an exhibit on machine tools, manufacturing, and some historical equipment often found in the Rockford area.  This reminded me a lot of the Franklin County Historical Society Museum we recently visited in Iowa, and really enjoyed!

machine tools, old cars, and some historical tools

Adjacent to the older half of the museum are two newer exhibits, including Flight Gallery, which is home to the centerpiece airplane once used to attempted a flight from Rockford to Sweden.  This flight was ultimately unsuccessful and led to the plane sitting abandoned on a glacier until it was recovered and brought to the museum.

The Greater Rockford

We also explored a great kids area of the museum in the up-and-coming exhibit Many Faces, One Community.  Here we  explored a train depot, played with toys, arts & crafts, and learned more about wood making.  This exhibits is continually expanding, and looks like a great way to learn about immigration to our communities.

Rockford train depot

woodworking

I certainly plan to revisit the Midway Village Museum in the summer months when we can take advantage of the guided tours of the village and explore the interiors of all the buildings, and perhaps even enjoy the Sock Monkey Madness Festival which is hosted annually in Rockford!

Disclosure: Our family's visit to Rockford including admission to the Midway Village Museum was provided by the Illinois Office of Tourism. As always, all of my thoughts are my own, unbiased, opinions based on my first-hand experiences.