This Sunday marks the beginning of May, which, for the Frances Willard House Museum, is another opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of its namesake honoree.
The museum, located at 1730 Chicago Ave., will have a special display of the famous reformer’s bicycle, Gladys, in honor of May Day, or International Workers’ Day.
One-hour tours are offered from 1 to 4 p.m. and those who ride bikes to the museum will receive half off their admission and enter to win a bicycle-themed book from the gift shop, said Amy Tyson, president of the Frances Willard Historical Association.
Willard, who was born in 1839 and died in 1898, learned to ride her bike at the age of 53 and chronicled the experience in her 1895 book “A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle.”
“Given (Willard’s) active role in labor reform and other progressive causes, May Day seemed a fitting day to draw attention to one of Willard’s other causes: to promote bicycling as an acceptable form of exercise for women,” Tyson said in an email. “As part of her ‘do everything’ philosophy, our goal is to show how bicycle advocacy for women was connected to other progressive era reforms, as well.”
Tyson said Willard also advocated for temperance, women’s rights, labor laws and jail and prison reforms in the 19th century.
The museum was originally Willard’s home, built in 1865. Willard lived and worked in the house, providing a workspace for working women and a boarding house for those involved in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Tyson said.
After leaving her post as the first dean of women at Northwestern, Willard served as the second president of the WCTU, and made her home her office during her years in leadership.
In 1900, the house was established as a museum with its original furnishings intact, including furniture, artwork and books, among other objects. Tyson said the national landmark is the country’s first house museum devoted to the life of a woman.
The museum opens every first and third Sunday of the month, as well as by appointment. It is completely run by volunteers.
In June, Tyson said the museum will also open the Evanston Women’s History Project exhibit “Lifting as We Climb,” focusing on the history of Evanston women in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“The Frances Willard House Museum offers Evanston and the world a unique glimpse into an important era of social reform,” she said. “One can read about Frances Willard, the WCTU and progressive era reform, but there is something powerful about being in a place where history happened. And in this house, Willard and the WCTU workers did make history happen – by galvanizing support and organizing women across the world.”
