Will Cook County News

By Claude Martinez. Interviews recorded on January 11, 2025; documentary posted on August 4, 2025.

Union, IL – In 1974, Donley’s Wild West Town opened its doors to the public, introducing visitors to a rich western museum. This idea quickly sprang up, like many towns in the ‘real wild west’.

Larry Donley, 95 at the time of the filming of this feature documentary, recounted the years growing up in Chicagoland and in Berwyn.

After graduating from J. Sterling Morton High School, Larry married his wife, Helene, and opened a car repair shop/gas station in Berwyn. Soon after, the couple had two sons who would later become vital to the operations of the future wild west town.

In Berwyn, Larry often traded his services for antique music boxes and other historical items. He would also take his sons Mike and Randy to the famous Maxwell Street, where all three would trade and buy items for their personal collection.

“We all started collecting,” said Mike Donley. “We’d go down to Maxwell Street every morning (Sunday). Randy was collecting military souvenirs, so he’d look for helmets and daggers. Larry was looking for phonographs. I’d look for whatever interested me.”

“The collection really got out of hand by the 1970s and that’s why the decision was made to come up here and build this building just to house the collection. Because back in Berwyn it was stored in semi-trailers, the back of the gas station, and garages rented all over the place, and he (Larry) didn’t even know what he had anymore,” Mike noted.

Once the museum opened in 1974 at 8512 S. Union Rd. in Union, the story of the Wild West Town came alive. The Donleys began to focus on western-themed items and shifted their original idea into a kids’ western-themed park.

This documentary relives the countless moments and memories that still live with the Donleys’ long after the closure of Donley’s Wild West Town in 2021.

The full documentary can be viewed on the Will Cook County News YouTube page, linked here.

Photo and video citations are listed on screen, at the end of the documentary, and at the end of this article.

For more information about Donley’s Wild West Town, visit their website linked here.

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Photo Sources

Donley’s Wild West Town. Facebook page.
pauldorpat.com. (1915/2012). Garbage Pick-Up Classic on Belmont, Capitol Hill – THEN.
Krieger, M. T. (1918). Garbage Haulers: Jacob Aschenbrenner with His Horses and Wagon.
Barnes-Crosby Company. (1905). Maxwell Street Market. Chicago History Museum, ICHi-019155.
Library of Congress. (1930–1960s). Deciding on a Purchase. Chicago Public Library.
Library of Congress. (1930–1960s). Corner of Maxwell and Halsted Streets. Chicago Public Library.
Library of Congress. (1930–1960s). Vendor of Suits. Chicago Public Library.
Field Columbian Museum. (1894). Annual Report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the Year.
Walters Art Museum. (1858–1860). Fort Laramie, commissioned by William T. Walters. Public domain.
Unknown. (1850). Woman and Men in California Gold Rush, July 9, 1850. Public domain.
Library of Congress. (1850 or 1851). San Francisco Harbor, c.1851 (Sharp). Public domain.
Harper’s Magazine. (April 1860). Gold Seeking River Operations, California. Public domain.
Johnson, G. H. (c.1850–1852). California Gold Miners with Long Tom. Public domain.
Johnson, G. H. (c.1852). Mining on the American River near Sacramento. Public domain.
Johnson, G. H. (c.1850–1855). River Mining, North Fork of the American River, California. Public domain.
Unknown. (2010, October 31). Hydraulic Mining in Dutch Flat, California. Public domain.
Graves, R. D. (1889–1971). Chinese Gold Miners. Public domain.
Library of Congress. (Before June 22, 1851). San Francisco 1851. Public domain.
American Boy, July 1926. Public domain.
Boys’ Life, February 1928. Public domain.

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Video Sources

Brower, O., & Burton, D. (1931). Fighting Caravans [Film]. Paramount Pictures.
U.S. Information Agency. (1953–1959). A Trip Down Maxwell Street.
Phonoguy. (2020). Donley’s Wild West Town Phonograph Show & Museum 1995.
sellsellsell1. (2016). Wild West Town Highlights.
Kramper, J. (2011). Donley’s Wild West Town Part 1: Marshall vs. Bounty Hunter.
Kramper, J. (2011). Donley’s Wild West Town – Union, IL AZ RR Wild Bill Hickock Part 1.
Kramper, J. (2011). Donley’s Wild West Town – Union, IL AZ RR Wild Bill Hickock Part 2.
Dillon, J. (2011). Gunslinging with a Big Gun! Film Armorer Joey Dillon.
Dillon, J. (2017). Hollywood Gun Coach: Film Armorer Joey Dillon.
OneWheelProductions. (2014). Kid-Powered Hand Cars at Wild West Town.
recordchangerman. (2017). Donley’s Wild West Town.

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