First Division Museum at Cantigny
Museums, Historical Sites, and ZoosIllinois, United States11-50 Employees
The First Division Museum at Cantigny preserves and presents the history of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One. Located on Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois, it rests on the historic estate of Colonel Robert R. McCormick. Its galleries offer an interactive account of the division's service since World War I, with representations of the Western Front trenches, the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, and Vietnam-era jungle environments, and notes that the Korean War period involved occupation duty in Germany. The collection comprises about 15,000 artifacts and includes a research center with more than 200,000 books and documents, complemented by broad public and educational programming and outreach. The Cantigny Park and museum were bequeathed to the people of Illinois in 1955 and are operated by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation of Chicago.