Exhibitions

Located in the heart of downtown on Third Street, the Geneva History Museum offers a 3,000 square-foot Main Gallery, Geneva’s Story, a 950 square-foot feature gallery that changes each year.  Children's Gallery Exhibitions offered each summer.

Admission includes two museum galleries - $5/adult; $2/ages 3-10

FREE Tuesdays

FREE for Museum Members

Hours: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesdays thru Saturdays

Main Gallery

Geneva's Story

COME SEE THE ADDITIONS TO THE MAIN GALLERY!

Geneva’s story is all around us. It is shaped by the river, connected by the railroad, advanced by development, and enhanced by people who visit or call it home. Chapter by chapter, discover our evolving community. We invite you to hear stories, explore objects, and share memories. Explore oral histories, videos and more images on five iPad stations or sit and relax in the Fargo Theater to discover more of Geneva’s rich history. NEW Story Booth where you can listen to or record your Geneva stories, play the first Apple software graphic games on an Apple IIe computer, and pose in front of our neon selfie wall.

Feature Gallery

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The story of a woman who recognized the gradual decline of a historic site and took action.

In collaboration with Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley

Funded by the Fabyan Foundation and State Street Jewelers

February 10 - December 21, 2024

In 1971, Darlene Larson visited the deteriorating Japanese Garden on the former estate of Colonel George and Nelle Fabyan and became inspired to restore it. She formed a partnership with the Fabyan Forest Preserve and enlisted her fellow Geneva Garden Club members to roll up their sleeves and raise funds. Six years later they celebrated the restored garden with over one-hundred people at a dedication with a tea ceremony, origami creations and authentic music. 

Darlene quickly recognized other restoration needs and created the Friends of Fabyan, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and education of the legacy of George and Nelle Fabyan. Under Darlene’s leadership, Friends of Fabyan assisted with several restoration projects including the Fabyan Villa museum, garage, windmill, lighthouse, and several cement structures on the estate.

Visit this exhibition featuring photographs, in-depth notebooks and scrapbooks from Darlene’s collection. Learn about the structures on the estate with a 50" touch-screen map along with more than 100 photographs of what it looked like in 1920. Inspect objects including the large casting mold that re-created the eagle statues, and pieces of original cement structures.

Learn the stories of the Fabyan staff members and those who grew up on the estate through photographs and video stories. Be inspired by the long-term goals Darlene outlined in her final newsletter from Friends of Fabyan.