Geneva History Museum to celebrate ‘100 Years of The Little Traveler’

The Geneva History Museum will celebrate an iconic Third Street shop’s landmark anniversary with a “100 Years of The Little Traveler” exhibit that will open Feb. 5 and close Dec. 23.

The exhibit will feature artifacts that include shop founder Kate Howard Raftery’s going-away wedding coat, puppets used to entertain children, hand-painted dressing room doors by famous artist William Moulis and more, according to a news release.

The original Italianate Victorian home at 404 S. Third St. in Geneva had been expanded over the years to its now 36 rooms. The building is considered iconic, not only to the city, but to the creation of the powerhouse Third Street shopping district, Terry Emma, executive director of the Geneva History Museum, said of the store’s near-century existence in a previous Kane County Chronicle story by reporter Brenda Schory.

It was previous owner Kate Raftery who turned first a carriage house and then the main house into a business, Emma said.

“At the age of 52, and without any business experience, Kate Raftery began what would later become The Little Traveler,” Emma said.

The original home was built in 1867 by Polly Patten Clark, sister of George and Charles Patten.

The house had several owners, and one of them after Clark was Orville Sheldon, who built a carriage house facing Fulton Street in 1891. When his wife died, Sheldon’s niece, Stella Buckingham, came to live with him and continued to live in the home after his death, Emma said.

Raftery and her husband first rented the carriage house around 1915, Emma said, then moved into the main house in 1919 after they bought the property.

Museum admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children.

Geneva History Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For information, call 630-232-4951, email info@Genevahistorymuseum.org or visit genevahistorymuseum.org/100-years-of-the-little-traveler.