Jacksonville Area Museum

In historic downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Area Museum is a community history museum in a federal-style building. Its exhibits explore the people, institutions, and events that shaped Jacksonville and West-Central Illinois. Visitors can hear oral histories and view displays drawn from the museum's growing collection, including a rotating display of items from a 1975 city time capsule. The museum also preserves and interprets the MacMurray College archive collection, displayed in Mac Hall through a long-term loan from the MacMurray Foundation. Exhibits cover subjects such as the Illinois State Hospital, dentist and inventor Greene Vardiman Black, and Jacksonville in art. The museum is undertaking expansion and remodeling through early 2027 and remains open during construction, though exhibits and galleries may change or close.