The Three Rivers Library Minooka Branch is currently hosting an exhibition of Pleistocene mammal fossils found by a local farmer, John Bamford. in rural Minooka. The bones, found in 1901, were rescued from deterioration and oblivion by George Langford Sr. in 1912. The bones eventually were acquired by The Field Museum. The most famous of these fossils was dubbed the Minooka mastodon (actually a group of mastodon specimens). One of the tusks, still in its field jacket, is on display along with other mastodon fossils and animal fossils excavated from a Pleistocene bog in what is now Kendall County, IL. The Minooka Historical Society Museum, located in the basement of the Minooka library, is open Monday evenings from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.  To schedule a viewing during other library hours, please contact Three Rivers Library’s Local Historian Michele Houchens at 815-467-1600 x 207. The loan of these Field Museum specimens is for only one year, so don’t miss this event.

The Minooka Library is less than 15 miles from the Grundy County Historical Society Museum, so you can easily visit both in one trip, an easy drive from Chicago and surrounding communities via our Interstate highway system. All you need do is call to arrange a visit to the library and the museum. Allow a minimum of 1/2 hour per site for touring their respective fossil displays. The GCHS Museum has other interesting exhibits, including native American artifacts, an 82-pound lump of native copper, and a recreation of an 1880s dry goods establishment. The Grundy County Museum is located alongside a portion of the I & M Canal, just one block west of Canalport Park in Morris.