What do a 600-pound meteorite and a mastodon tooth found in Kyte Creek have in common? They both can be found at the Rochelle Flagg Township Museum, along with over 20,000 prehistoric and historic artifacts.
Museum director Kathy Johnson, along with Mary Erdman and Terry Dickow led the tour of the second grade students on each of the three levels. Students had the chance to step inside the town jail, catch a glimpse of what the settlers saw, and see how life must have been for locals.
In the lower level, Dickow explained how the people in the area kept their food cold during the warmer months, long before the invention of the refrigerator. He also held up implements that were used to lift the ice blocks and the tools that were used to spear frogs and fish.
New exhibits
Recently the museum updated their vast war collection, which includes many items from the Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI, and WWII, along with the Korean and Vietnam wars. Everything from boots and uniforms to personal items and a drum from the Spanish-American War that dates back to 1898 are on display.
Another new exhibit features toys manufactured in Illinois.
Johnson said many visitors walk down memory lane as they browse the exhibits, especially the jail, which holds plenty of history from years ago up until the mid 1970s when it was used. Horse thieves, arsonists, and drunkards were locked up inside the jail that sits permanently on the museum’s main floor.
“It surprises me the number of guys that come in and say they had to spend the night in that jail…they have told me their parents wouldn’t bail them out so they had to stay there,” Johnson said. “They relive those moments when they visit us here.”

Past and future
The Central School students’ museum visit ties into the unit they are learning about in school. In mid-November Johnson and Dickow gave a presentation to the second graders at Central School with pictures and artifacts on what they could expect to see at the museum.
Johnson said the students saw pictures of an old candlestick phone, moving through the different ways people have communicated with such as an old wall phone and a typewriter and now with smart phones and computers.
“Our presentation tied in with what they are studying,” Johnson said. “I brought some cave paintings that were the earliest form of communication up until what they can identify with — the smart phone and computer. Then I’ll ask them what they think will be in the future. They almost always reply flying cars or robots that will do everything.”
Johnson said visitors admit they didn’t realize how many different items there are. The 1915 Partin-Palmer automobile might be the largest of the collections displayed, but recently the museum acquired another important piece of Rochelle history — the marquee and projector from the former Hub Theater. For now they both sit in storage until a permanent place to be displayed is found. The museum has held fundraisers with hopes of eventually expanding the facility or adding another location.
The Flagg Township Museum is located at 518 Fourth Ave., in Rochelle and is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 815-562-3040. Johnson is the museum’s director, along with assistant director Jan Devore.