MENDOTA – A new exhibit for 2022 at Hume-Carnegie Museum in Mendota will feature the history of Black Bros. Co.

Representatives of Black Bros., Evan Carroll and Megan Kneebone, will be in attendance at an open house from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 27 at Hume-Carnegie Museum. During the open house, all past and present employees of Black Bros. and their families will be admitted free.

Photos and memorabilia from the past 122 years in the design and manufacturing of high-quality laminating and finishing equipment will be featured at the museum, which opened for the season the weekend of March 5-6.

In 1882, William Black Sr. and his five sons founded a carpentry shop in Lanark, Scotland. This was the beginning of the present Black Bros. Co. In the late 1880s, they immigrated to America (Chicago) and soon began to make a name for themselves as inventors and manufacturers of machines for the woodworking industry.

At the turn of the century, with several patents under their belts, the brothers moved their ambitious machinery business to Mendota because of its central location to the growing concentration of furniture and woodworking factories in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Today, Black Bros. Co. is well known throughout the world as a designer and manufacturer of high-quality laminating and finishing equipment.

Museum hours are 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and by appointment by calling 815-539-3373. Group tours are also welcome. Also, the Union Depot Railroad Museum is now open Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.