When Evanston business owner Dave Douglass was 9, he persuaded his parents to take him to Mazon Creek, a well-known fossil site about an hour southwest of Chicago, to dig for fossils. One of Douglass’ friends had shown him a fossil he had found at the site, and Douglass wanted to find his own. After that trip, he was hooked.
“When you find something like that as a young person, it really encourages you,” Douglass said.
Since then, he and his family have spent their weekends and vacations digging for fossils, replacing their family fishing trips with rock hunting trips.
Douglass, 57, now owns Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop, 704 Main St. Besides selling fossils, minerals, art, jewelry and Native American crafts, the shop showcases Douglass’ fossil collection in the Prehistoric Life Museum.
“I’d always had my private collection of fossils,” he said. “I wanted to share it with people.”
As a sophomore at Northwestern studying geology, Douglass realized the academic aspect of fossils wasn’t enough for him. In 1970, he opened a small shop on Chicago Avenue, but relocated in 1987 to a bigger location that allowed space for a museum. Still, Douglass couldn’t afford a large space, so he set up his museum in the shop’s basement.
A small sign leads customers down a wooden staircase into a green carpeted area. Against the wall, glass cases encircle the basement and display fossils in chronological order, from the Cambrian Period to the Pleistocene Epoch. More displays sit in the middle of the room, next to a dinosaur leg bone from the Jurassic Period.
Because entry is free, the museum receives many visitors, including two to three school groups a week, Douglass said. Visitors are often returning customers.
Jan Berggreen, NU’s associate director of annual giving, has been visiting the shop since she moved to the area in 1985.
“I’ve been coming here for many years,” she said. “I bought rocks for my kids when they were little, or rocks for my husband – he’s a geologist.”
Evanston resident Greg Gebstadt has been to the shop about four times a month for 20 years.
“It’s very special,” he said. “It’s got many types of stones and price ranges. It’s very unique.”
On the main floor, the art and rocks are displayed in glass cases or shelves around the shop. Near the entrance, there are jewelry, books and stones. In the back, the cases display art from other states and countries. Prices of the art and stones vary greatly, from 50 cents for kids to $8,000 for “really avid collectors,” Douglass said.
Toward the back, a small section is dedicated to children, offering books, stones, toy dinosaurs and small bags they can fill with gems for less than $10. One of the books, written by children’s author Stuart J. Murphy, features Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop.
“This was his daughter’s favorite shop when she was a kid, so she talked him into writing it,” Douglass said. “It’s been a popular book across the country.”
As the store gets more inventory, limited space becomes a problem, Douglass said. About a month ago, he added shelves on the walls to accommodate more stones. However, he is hesitant about moving to a bigger location.
“I wouldn’t look forward to moving all the rocks,” he said. “And this is a good location. It’s not the usual shopping area. There are a lot of unique places.”
