Looking out across the west central Illinois landscape today, with its endless acres of corn and soybean fields, the countryside dotted with barns and farm implements, it is hard to imagine a time before the land was divided into towns and agricultural homesteads. However, at Dickson Mounds State Park, located near the small town of Lewistown, which proudly boasts a population of 2600, visitors are offered a glimpse into an Illinois of a different age, a time in which its people lived in close harmony with the earth.
Tucked away in a dense thicket of trees on the former family farm for which it is named, the museum building itself rests atop the “mound” structure where Dr. Don Dickson, a Lewiston chiropractor, discovered the remains of several Mississippian people in 1927. Dr. Dickson, who was an amateur in the field of archaeology, began carefully excavating the mound to reveal the bones within. Instead of removing them from the earth, he removed the dirt from around them in order to preserve their placement. His work soon attracted not only the attention of the public, but also major universities, and the University of Chicago later sent a team of archaeologists in the 1930s to assist Dickson.
The site was also opened as a museum in the ’30s, a rough wooden building placed over the remains to shelter them from the elements, but not from the eyes of the interested and hungry public, who were charged an admission fee of “50 cents for adults and two-bits for children.” Dickson operated the site as a private museum until 1945, when it was acquired by the state of Illinois. The location was then made a state park, and became part of the Illinois State Museum system in 1965.
For years, the remains of those buried within the mound were on display to the public, even after the current museum building was constructed in 1972. A lengthy walkway ramp was built encircling the location of the bones in order for viewing, and old photos in the part of the museum dedicated to its own history show crowds of people young and old huddled against its railings, smiling and clutching cameras in their hands for photos as they would take at Disneyland or Six Flags.
However, in the 1970s, vocal unrest began to grow among groups of Native Americans who were dissatisfied with the lack of reverence and sideshow-like treatment given to the remains. They soon began holding demonstrations at Dickson Mounds, aiming to have the bones reinterred. At one point, a group of them were able to enter the museum and place blankets over the remains, removing them from view in a symbolic act of protest, but it wasn’t until the 1990s, when then-president George Bush signed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act that the demands of these groups were met.
In 1992, then-governor of Illinois Jim Edgar closed the Dickson Mounds facility so that the remains could be covered, and the museum underwent a yearlong restoration project. Red cedar planks were imported from Canada because of the specific length required to cover the area and placed over the remains, which were then covered by a white tarp. The viewing room and walkway remain, but no bones can be seen. Instead, the room is used as a kind of auditorium that hosts a multimedia presentation entitled “Reflections on Three Worlds,” which explores the day-to-day lives of the native peoples and their systems of belief. These days, no photography is allowed in the area.
However, the bones are not the only things that make the hour-long drive to Lewistown worthwhile. The museum, which has three separate levels, hosts a variety of activities and artifacts that give visitors a glimpse into the world of those people who lived in and worked the land of west central Illinois thousands of years before more recent settlement.
The third floor has an observation deck that provides a view of the area surrounding the mound. From the deck guests can see the adjacent Eveland Village site, where the remains of three Mississippian-era buildings have been preserved. Map plaques on the roof also reveal the locations of other surrounding mounds and archaeological sites nearby, including Morton Village, where work continues and discoveries are still being made today. There is also a theater on the third floor where a fifteen-minute short film on the progression of native people through time is shown periodically.
Visitors who venture to the second floor are greeted with a wealth of artifacts, and as visitors follow the exhibition around the room, they travel visually through the progression of Illinois’ native peoples, from the Ice Age through contemporary 19th century tribes. Mastodon bones, teeth and tusks, some of which were found in the town of Spring Lake, while not contemporary to the Mississippian-era people, who were in the area around 1300 A.D., are displayed near a collection of arrowheads and other stone tools, jewelry and pottery from around Illinois and its surrounding states. The display also houses the artifacts and discusses the long-term effects of 17th century French explorers on the native people, up through further settlement, statehood and the imminent expulsion of the natives from Illinois.
There is also a dugout canoe in one corner of the room, which measures 17 and a half feet and was made from a single log. It was discovered by Bowen resident Clyde Meador, who found it washed up on the banks of the LaMoine River following heavy flooding in the spring of 1994, and was donated to the museum in 1997. Interactive exhibits are also featured on the second floor, including audio, video and hands-on displays. Wandering through the rooms, it is difficult not to consider the evolution of humanity, how cultures and customs were created and what decisions or thought processes led to certain aspects of daily life.
The first floor houses a research center, a cafeteria and the requisite gift shop as well as several displays, including an exhibition on the history of Dickson Mounds itself complete with old photos, letters, maps, newspaper clippings and drawings. There is also a large display of tourist memorabilia and advertisements providing insight into how the site was marketed to the public as a family destination.
A special exhibit gallery houses various rotating museum exhibits; the display currently in-house is entitled “From Humble Beginnings: Lincoln’s Illinois 1830-1861.” At Dickson Mounds through the end of October, the presentation offers viewers a look at the events and culture that shaped Abraham Lincoln’s life and outlook. From Mormon Nauvoo to the Alton Riots to the meteoric rise of Chicago as one of the world’s premier cities, the exhibit not only gives visitors a lesson in historic events, but the everyday lives of the people who lived in that time. Audio of contemporary stories, poems and songs are available for listening in an interactive display, and items of everyday use, such as blankets, furniture, toys and clothes fill the cases and line the walls.
Despite the wealth of historic artifacts available, the rate of tourism to the museum has slowed considerably in the last decade, dwindling down from 80,000 to around 30,000 visitors each year. Jane Anderson, who operates the museum’s front desk, had a very frank comment in regard to the slowing numbers: “There were a lot more before the covering of the mounds.”
With the recent spate of state park closings that has plagued the state due to its increasing debt, considering the loss of tourism one may wonder how long the park can escape a similar fate. So far, however, the outlook is good.
“They (the state) haven’t said anything about closing, but they have taken a lot of the budget away,” Anderson said. “We’re basically operating on a shoestring; even the director pitches in to help with repairs.”
In order to remain available to visitors, the museum does accept monetary assistance, and also has a donor program called “Friends of Dickson Mounds,” which has varying levels of donation to choose from.
The museum is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. excluding Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, and there is no charge for admission.
Plenty of parking is available.