Bohemian Hall & Archive
A Czech and Slovak heritage museum in Berwyn with a hall, used for memorials and for anniversary gatherings.
About this venue
Origin story
Four fraternal lodges built the hall in 1931 and dissolved one by one; the last, in 1998, left the building and its records to a small foundation. Volunteers spent eleven years cataloguing the basement before anybody thought to reopen the hall upstairs.
Why families choose us
Downstairs is an archive of what Czech and Slovak families brought to this part of Cook County: passports, ledgers, sixty years of a lodge's minutes, and a wall of photographs that families still come in to search. Upstairs is the hall those same lodges built in 1931, with a sprung maple floor and a stage. Families rent the hall for memorials and, as often, for the gathering on a first or tenth anniversary, which is when this building tends to fill up. The kitchen is the lodge's original one and is licensed, so a family can cook in it themselves — and many do, because what gets cooked is usually the point. Our archivist will look for your family in the collection before the day, at no charge, and more often than not finds something.
Who they serve
Religious tradition
Community served
Spaces & pricing
Space
Capacity
Starting price
The 1931 lodge hall with a sprung maple floor, a stage, and the lodges' original licensed kitchen that families are welcome to cook in.
140 seated, 200 standing
$650 for five hours
Reading tables among the collection, for a small gathering or for a family that wants to look through the photographs together.
30 seated
$200 for three hours
Common questions
Can we cook in the kitchen ourselves?
Yes. It is licensed, it has two ranges and a walk-in, and families cooking their own food is the reason most of them book this hall.
Will you look for our family in the archive?
Our archivist will, at no charge, if you give us the surname and a rough decade a week ahead. She finds something more often than not.
Is there a lift to the hall?
There is, installed in 2012, and an accessible restroom on both floors. The stage itself is reached by four steps and no ramp.
What families say
New to EndCo — be among the first. No family has written about Bohemian Hall & Archive here yet.
Did you work with Bohemian Hall & Archive?
Reviews here come from families who have actually sat with a member. If you spent time with them, a few sentences about how it went is the most useful thing the next family can read.
Service area
Address
6412 W Cermak Rd, Berwyn, IL 60402
Travels to
Suburbs · West Side · Southwest Side · Berwyn · Cicero · Riverside · Oak Park
Location
6412 W Cermak Rd, Berwyn, IL 60402
Get directions ↗