Wilder Mansion Has Been Many Things to Elmhurst Residents, but Most Remember it as a Library

If you've heard the rumors that Elmhurst's Wilder Mansion is haunted, it's probably time to put that supernatural tale to rest. Perhaps the only ghosts in the place are the cassette tapes, microfilm readers and other vestigial technologies that the building, when it was the Elmhurst Public Library, used to house. Any creaking sounds you hear might just be the floorboards groaning in remembrance of heavy bookshelves.

Catherine Ingram, who worked in the mansion during its incarnation as the library building, doesn't think there are any spirits in the place.

“The only thing I ever saw flying through the air was thrown by a small child,” she says.

If the mansion in Wilder Park is filled with anything, it's memories. The building has been a private home, a public library and a historical society and is now a lovely place to have a wedding or a meeting. Ingram, who leads the library's Adult Services Department, reviewed it all during a recent tour of the mansion as part of the library's 95^th anniversary. Her research on the place, as well as her recollections of working there, made for a lively visit to the building's refurbished halls and rooms.

Built in 1868 by Chicago merchant Seth Wadhams, the mansion has gone through as many changes as it has owners. The library moved into the first floor in 1922, and the first major remodeling came in 1936 after a fire. That's when the familiar columns were added on the east and west sides of the home. For a time, the circulation desk was located in the east entrance area near the stairs. As the library acquired more materials, shelving was added on the first and second floors, and space in the basement was used for programs and staff.

In 1965, a very of-the-era addition was attached to the west side of the mansion. Ingram, in displaying a pamphlet of the “new” library at the time, acknowledged that its style may not be to our taste today. But she encouraged visitors to see the addition's “Mad Men” quality.

It was also at this time that the Historical Society moved into the mansion and stayed until 1975. Needless to say, space was at a premium for both patrons and staff. Ingram worked in the mansion-addition hybrid building for three years. She recalled sharing staff desks, jamming video tapes all around in some of the houses smaller rooms, and bathrooms that could scare a ghost.

The library moved to its current location, about a block to the north, in 2003.

After renovations that involved pulling out walls, dropped ceilings and even a caretaker's apartment, the Elmhurst Park District re-opened the mansion for rentals in 2008. Last year, more than 200 events were held there.

Visitor Peggy Jacobs remembers reading in what is now called the Wadhams Room, enjoying the sunlight streaming in through the many windows.

“It was a joy to come here,” she said.

Ingram was asked how the library might look in the future. She imagines more downloading of materials, especially of movies and music. If that happens, then space in the current building will be reconfigured and reused–and the past, as they say, will repeat itself.

The Wilder Mansion is open to the public every Friday from 12 to 5 p.m. For information about holding an event there, call (630) 993-8186.