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Racine Heritage Museum

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From astronaut Laurel Clark and architect Frank Lloyd Wright to Case steam tractors and the Underground Railroad, the Heritage Museum of Racine has something for everyone. Come and explore the stories of Racine County's past in an innovative and inviting setting in downtown Racine.

Racine Heritage Museum is housed in a historic building that was originally built as a Carnegie Library in 1903. Libraries were a favorite philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie, whose foundation financed 1,679 libraries in the United States between 1880 and 1917.

The library outgrew the space and moved to a new site in 1958. The building was given a new life as the Racine County Museum (now Racine Heritage Museum) in 1962.

The building has been grandfathered out of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and is not handicapped accessible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Racine's Library

Efforts to create a local public library began in 1897, were spearheaded by the Women's Club of Racine and supported by area businessmen. Eventually the City of Racine sought construction funds from Andrew Carnegie, who, late in 1901, offered $50,000. The building located at 701 Main Street was completed and opened in March of 1904.

The library outgrew the space, leading to the construction of a new central library at Seventh and Lake Streets, which opened in 1958. After much debate, the Carnegie building was transferred to County management in 1961, and opened as the Racine County Museum in 1962.

We welcome class visits to the Racine Heritage Museum and always seek to provide the best experience for students, teachers, and class chaperones - please note that one chaperone (who gets in free) is required for every ten students, and that we cannot admit more than 60 students at any one time. We draw your attention to our brief but important guidelines for chaperones and students. Please review and share these materials before every visit.

As you can see on our school page, we offer a wide range of regular programs to suit all ages. Many of these involve planned activities for which we provide suggested pre and post visit activities, which are linked on our teachers page. Please choose the program for which your group is scheduled and feel free to print these activity sheets (additional supporting materials are available on request).

As part of our service, we also like to work with teachers to design programs for their specific needs. Do contact us for more information about this flexible programming - or if you have any other questions.



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Details and Specs

Hours of Operation:
 OpenClosed
MonClosed 
Tue9:00 AM5:00 PM
Wed9:00 AM5:00 PM
Thr9:00 AM5:00 PM
Fri9:00 AM5:00 PM
Sat10:00 AM3:30 PM
Sun12:00 PM4:00 PM
Notes: None Listed

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