212 West Main Street • Barrington, Illinois 60010-3011 • 847.381.1730

Tours of Barrington

The Village of Barrington - Historical Architectural Tour No. 1

This walking tour in the Village covers an area of later development west of Hough Street. Until 1867, when an assessors sub-division was established, the area within this tour boundary was farmland, with few surviving or documented residences. M. B. McIntosh platted and sold lots on West Lake Street in the mid 1880s, and West Station Street was not opened up until 1892, when Billy Spriggs had to move his house over from the middle of the new intersection close to Hough Street. Until that time, a few farmers on West Main Street near Dundee Avenue, had properties which extended south to West Lake Street.

The Village of Barrington promoted itself with a great deal of pride as early as 1872, when a handbill described lots for sale from one to five hundred dollars, on clean streets, fringed with beautiful maples. The Village retains to this day many tranquil, residential streets, rich with a mixture of architectural styles typical to collar county communities, along the railways of northeastern Illinois.

Please download the PDF (6 pages) and begin your tour of the Village of Barrington.

Click here to download PDF of Architectural Tour No. 1

Our New Location

#223 on the Barrington Architectural Tour No. 1, The Octagon House is on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was probably built in the 1860's with the completion circa 1881. The Octagon House is now undergoing complete restoration, according to the standards of the U.S. Dept. of The Interior.

Children's Downtown Historical Walking Tour

Your tour today begins here at the Wichman Blacksmith Shop, current home of the Barrington Area Historical Museum. This building represented the top-of-the-line in blacksmith operations when it was built in 1929. It was made of brick rather than the more common frame, and featured the latest in equipment for its time in history. You will learn more about Mr. Wichman and the kind of work he did in this building during the second half of your museum visit today.

By the way, take note of the hitching post outside of the Museum’s big, double front doors. When travel by horse power was common in Barrington, people needed a way to secure their horse or team while taking care of whatever brought them to the downtown area – be it business, church, visiting, or something else. They would tie the reins to the heavy ring in the hitching post so that the horse or team would not wander away.

Please download the PDF and begin your walking tour of the Village of Barrington.

Click here to download PDF of Children's Downtown Historical Walking Tour

Current Exhibit