Long before Troy became a forgotten name on old maps, it was a busy industrial suburb of the growing Village of Oswego, shaped by water, business, and railroads.
Its story began in the 1830s, when early entrepreneurs followed settlers into the Oswego area and built one of the earliest dams across the Fox River and the small mill it powered. The little manufacturing village expanded in the 1840s when it was officially platted, and continued through the early decades of the 1900s, when Troy’s business institutions, which once experienced great heights, began to falter.
Today, Troy survives only in parkland, native limestone foundations, and records, and is now a hidden chapter of Kendall County’s past.
The Little White School Museum, 72 Polk Street, Oswego invites you to journey back to the days when Troy was a business center, reading between the lines of maps and memories, to explore a place of early residence, industry, and potential….
In addition, the exhibit includes brief histories of many of the other lost villages in the area that were once established with the high hopes of their promoters, only to disappear due to a variety of circumstances.
“The Lost Village of Troy, and Other Hidden Towns in Kendall County and Illinois” is open during regular museum hours, Thursdays, 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Mondays, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Admission to the museum and the exhibit is free, but donations are always gratefully accepted.
The Little White School Museum was built in 1850 as a Methodist-Episcopal Church. The congregation dissolved in 1913 and the Oswego School District turned the building into a one-room school in 1915. Classes were held in the building until 1964, when it was used for storage. The Oswegoland Heritage Association began a grassroots effort to save and restore the badly deteriorated building in 1976 assisted by the Oswegoland Park District. The restoration, largely accomplished by volunteers, was completed in 2002. Today the building protects and preserves Oswegoland’s rich history and heritage through a partnership between the heritage association and the park district.
For more information, call the museum at 630-554-2999; send an email to info@littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org; or visit the museum web site at www.littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.
—Little White School Museum