The Aurora Historical Society’s William Tanner House Museum will open for the season this Sunday, May 3. Hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.. The house will be open those same hours on Sundays through the end of September.
The Tanner House, at the northwest corner of Oak Avenue and Cedar Street on the near westside, is an 1857 residence originally occupied by local hardware merchant William Tanner, his wife, and their nine children. It is furnished and decorated as it might have looked when the family lived there. The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has features like faux-grained woodwork, elaborate plaster ceiling decoration, and original gas lights.
Visitors are can take informative tours of the house, led by volunteer docents. Admission is $5 for ages 16 and up, $3 for ages five to 15, and free for children under five and Aurora Historical Society members. No reservation is needed, but groups of 10 or more are encouraged to call for special tour arrangements.
The house was donated to the Aurora Historical Society for museum purposes by the Tanner family ninety years ago, in 1936. The Historical Society, founded in 1906, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the collection and preservation of Aurora’s history.
To reach the Tanner House directly, phone 630-897-9029. For more information on Aurora Historical Society activities, call the main office at 630-906-0650, or see or the website, aurorahistory.org.
—Aurora Historical Society