Cook County occupies traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the Indigenous community. These lands were ceded to the U.S. Government by the Chippewas of Lake Superior in the Treaty of 1854, including the tribal lands of the sovereign nation of the Grand Portage Band of Anishinaabe.

The Cook County Historical Society (CCHS) acknowledges the historic and cultural impact of colonial practices. We are committed to creating an accurate and inclusive history of Cook County and all of its inhabitants.

 To do this, we plan to take action on an ongoing basis in several ways:

❖      We will restore the Chippewa City Church/St. Francis Xavier and its surrounding grounds.

❖      We will focus on sharing updated and correct historical interpretations of the Chippewa City Church and surrounding area.

❖      We have begun the process of consultation with the Grand Portage Anishinaabe on our inventory of Native American artifacts per the new federal regulations related to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

 CCHS will revise and strengthen our action plan each year - soliciting collaboration and feedback from our community. We will share this action plan with our partner organizations.

Thank you for visiting our site!

If you’re a fan of history - especially the Cook County North Shore area - please consider donating to our organization or becoming a sustaining member so that we can continue to share our historic sites and collections with you!

In 2023, Cook Historic Cook County joined with three other historical societies in Cook County to form the Cook County Historical Alliance.

Collaboratively telling the history of the land, its people, cultures, and their interactions over time – bringing understanding to how the cultural heritage shapes, inspires, and informs Cook County.