Frances Willard House Museum

Built in 1865, and patterned after a design by Andrew J. Downing, this Evanston house was home to Frances Willard (1839-1898). Both author and activist, Frances Willard lived and worked in this house during the years of her presidency of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). For many of those years, the house also served as an informal national headquarters for the WCTU and a boarding house for its workers.  Established as a museum in 1900, the Frances Willard House Museum has a remarkably intact collection of original furnishings and objects -- including furniture, artwork, textiles, family photographs, books, and Willard's bicycle--all which help us tell the story of one of the most prominent social reformers in 19th century America.