Neat Artifacts on Display at the Cornell Museum

  • The Revolutionary War
    • George Rogers Clark went north on the Sac Trail past Cornell.
    • He put down the Sac village at Rock Island. Artifacts from that village are on display.
  • War of 1812
    • Kentucky Rangers came up the
      Kickapoo Trail to Chatsworth. The Kickapoo were allies of  the British
    • List of 1812 vets buried in area
    • Also British artifacts of that time period
  • Black Hawk War 1832
    • Some Kickapoo men at village s of Chatsworth and Leroy join ed Black Hawk
    • Area militia units buried victims
      at Indian Creek massacre
    • 2 Black Hawk War vets are buried at Cornell
    • Artifacts from Black Hawk War and Kickapoo village displayed
  • ILLINOIS MICHIGAN CANAL
    • Walter Cornell came to the area to work on canal.
    • Wild Bill Hickok worked on the canal.
    • On display is a tomahawk carried by Wild Bill on Buffalo Bill’s stage show.
  • CIVIL WAR
    • List  of area vets at Vicksburg.
    • Includes youngest drummer boy in civil war, Listin Howe.
    • Big Bend Reunion was held at Cornell for many years.
    • Walter Cornell son's Springfield rifle on display.
    • Henry Morris's son killed
      Confederate at Gettysburg  and is buried in Cornell.
    • Artifacts from Vicksburg & Gettysburg on display.
    • Orin Howe – Streator, Youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor
    • Only woman to receive civil war pension, Albert Cashier aka Jennie Hodgers
    • Movie “Horse Soldiers” , John Wayne portrays local vet. Piece of Confederate railroad rail depicted in movie
    • Pieces of wood from the scaffold that hung the Lincoln conspirators
  • 1876 CENTENNIAL YEAR
    • The US most prosperous country in
      the world.
    • U.S. Army unit gets wiped out by Stone Age people at Little Big Horn
    • Artifacts from U.S. Army and artifacts from Indian village at Little Big Horn
  • 1898 SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
    • List of vets buried in Cornell Cemetery
    • Uniform from Spanish American War
  • 1912 TITANIC SINKS - WORLD STUNNED
    • Couple from Ottawa and Bloomington survive.
    • Piece of coal from Titanic
      on display
  • 1918 World War I
    • 3rd generation son of Walter Cornell dies in WWI.
    • Artifacts on display include a gas mask for a horse
  • WW II
    • 3 people including 1 Cornell  person worked at Los Alamos NM on atomic bomb
    • Desert sand melted by atomic
      bomb on display
    • Piece of deck of Missouri
      where McArthur signed treaty with Japan on display
    • Henry Vorhese of Cornell
      takes bullet through his dog tag
      on Tarawa
    • Piece of Hindenburg
    • Piece of Berlin Wall
    • Joliet Arsenal explosion, 3 dead buried in Southside Cemetery  in Pontiac
  • 2001 - September 11th
    • Picture of airliner flying over Cornell to Washington DC.
    • Air Force One with fighter escort, 9-11-2001
  • Misc Items
    • The famous rodeo had performers at Cornell.
    • Stock was also used
      in the International Amphitheater in Chicago, the State Fairs in the Midwest and first rodeo ever broadcast.
    • Roy Rogers got the stock for
      his rodeo at St. Louis.
    • See a special tribute to
      the King of the Cowboys
      frame with a cartridge +
      a bullet fired out of his
      six shooter and 2 commemorative
      coins.