Plan Your Visit

No, his first wife, Amy, was 42 years old when they married and, although she had been married before, she had no children by her first husband. It was unusual for women over 40 to have children in 1915. After Amy’s death, Robert remarried but by then he was 64 and his second wife was 47. She had two young adult daughters from a previous marriage.

Upon his death, Robert’s will established the Robert R. McCormick Charitable Trust and ordered his trustees to preserve his home and estate as a museum and public park. The Trust became an endowment designed to support Cantigny Park and to be used for specific philanthropic purposes. Today, the Robert R. McCormick Foundations are the legacy of that trust. You can learn more about the Foundation and its charitable giving by clicking here.

A 1948 railroad exposition in Chicago helped Robert McCormick understand Chicago needed a permanent exposition center. He began advocating for a facility. By the early 1950s a non-profit corporation, funded by a special statewide horse-racing tax, was created to oversee its construction. Although Robert died in 1955, his advocacy worked and construction began in 1958. In 1960 Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley dedicated the McCormick Place Convention Center in Robert’s honor.

No, the McCormick Spices company is not related to Robert or his family.

The 500-acre Wheaton estate and Robert’s 35-room home could not be duplicated today. Their value lies in Robert R. McCormick’s vision and dedication to his community.

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation owns and maintains the estate as a public park and golf course.

No.

On special days the Museum is open for self-guided tours. You may walk through the house on McCormick Day, the celebration of Robert McCormick’s birthday in July, on Members Night in August (Members only), or during our Holiday Open House in early December. Please check the events calendar for exact dates and times.

Maryland McCormick is buried at the Medill Family plot in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.