#946 Go to the Hamburger Museum

When I moved to the Fox Valley, I was excited that I was going to be able to visit the Hamburger Museum in Seymour...until I learned it closed. I was disappointed but kept in the back of my mind. After some research last year, I discovered the entire hamburger collection from the museum moved to the Seymour Community Museum and was on display. I originally wanted to visit the museum while the hubby had basketball in Seymour one weekend in February...why make an extra trip. When I emailed the museum, Bill informed me the museum was closed January and February and since I was interested in the hamburger collection, I might want to come in August when the entire collection was on display. OK...my trip the hamburger museum was on the back burner. AGAIN. August kinda snuck up on me this year and suddenly it was the end of July and my weekends in August were almost booked with other bucket list adventures. After a quick text to Danielle, she agreed to tag along with me to check out the museum.  Yeah!!!!

I've been to several small town/community museums and/or other specialty museums in the last few years. The Seymour Community Museum hands down is one of my new favorites. Not only does it commemorate the history of Seymour, it includes area businesses, interactive displays, and even an Animatronic that reminded me of the Carousel of Progress at Walt Disney World.

Granny talking about her kitchen from the 1930s and 

how she wanted one of those new ice boxes

When I emailed Bill again to find out about the Hamburger Collection since I was planning on attending on August 1st, he said that it should be about 80% done. If what we saw was only 80% of the collection, I'd love to see the other 20% some day. The entire 1,500 piece collection was donated to the museum by the friend of the original owner, Jeffery Tenneyson, of the collection. That is a lot of hamburger memorabilia. Some of the items caused a trip down memory lane. There was a lot of stuff of the 80s and early 90s. Pick a restaurant chain and I'm sure there was something from there.

It was well worth the $2 donation. Where else can you see a soda fountain, a funeral home, a wedding chapel, and Burger Time, one of the first arcade games, under 1 roof? There is even a kids area where kids can pound away at an actual typewriter and play with some hamburger toys. With all the hamburger memorabilia, there really should have been a scavenger hunt to make it more entertaining. I did suggest it.

A funeral home display

The Soda Fountain

The two ladies working the museum were very helpful and friendly. One even tried to show us how the Juke Box worked. There was only one song that had a chance of playing and we must have picked the wrong Elvis song.

After leaving the museum, we walked down the block to see Hamburger Charlie and the giant hamburger. Seymour is really the home of the hamburger. Too bad we couldn't be in town for Burger Fest. Maybe next year.