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Funks Grove

On the same site as the Prairie home is the Funk Gem and Mineral Museum.  This is the collection of LaFayette Funk II, grandson of LaFayette I and son of Eugene Funk, Sr.  The present museum building was erected by LaFayette in 1973 and 1974.  It comprises part of the largest one-man gem and mineral collection in the world.  Both outside and inside are minerals from every corner of the world.  His work and travels for the Funk Bros. Seed Company allowed him to acquire specimines from locations even the Smithsonian’s collection does not include.  Although most of the gems and minerals are in their natural, uncut condition, cut and polished examples are interspersed.  Besides a huge hall of gems and minerals, there are separate collections of fossils, Central Illinois Indian artifacts, Chinese soapstone carvings, seashells and corals, and saddles, buggies, and sleighs.  There is also a room of fluorescent minerals, which glow under ultraviolet light.  A special wing that houses the history of Funk Bros. Seed Company in graphics and material artifacts as recently been added.