Waukegan Historical Society

Preserving the Past—Preparing for the Future

COMING SOON!

WAUKEGAN HISTORY MUSEUM AT THE CARNEGIE

From our modest beginnings more than 55 years ago to the present, the Society has brought and continues to bring Waukegan’s unique history to the community through its exhibits, programs, publications, tours and activities. Among these are our annual signature events, the Tour of Homes and the Oakwood Cemetery Walk, as well as many education outreach programs and events.

We are excited to be expanding our history operations, in partnership with the Waukegan Park District, to the historic Waukegan Carnegie Library.

Harboe Architects, an award-winning preservation architectural firm, has completed the design of the project and construction has begun! The plan provides the following:

• Dedicated space for dynamic permanent and temporary history and natural resources exhibits

• Dedicated space for our research archival library

• Flexible special events space

• Classroom space

• Environmentally controlled storage for our collections

The project to restore and adaptability reuse the Waukegan Carnegie Library
to become the future Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie is $13.5 million.

The building restoration is fully funded and construction is underway now for an anticipated opening in 2024. The Waukegan Historical Society is seeking support to fund the exhibit design and fabrication phases of this transformational project. The Society is working with the award-winning exhibit design firm, Luci Creative, and has already completed development of the design concepts and a visitor experience framework. Work is underway to finalize the design phase and begin fabrication in order to have exhibits available in time for opening day.
Please consider contributing to the campaign today!

THE HISTORY OF OUR EXPANSION TO THE HISTORIC WAUKEGAN CARNEGIE LIBRARY

Around 2007, the Society held a series of strategic planning meetings to plan how the Society would move forward into the future. It became evident in these discussions that we had run out of space in the current Waukegan History Museum and Library and we needed more space for exhibits, secure storage for artifacts, and more accessibility and space for the Library. Working with our long-term partner, the Waukegan Park District, we developed a plan, hired architects and began fundraising for an addition to the existing Haines House Museum in Bowen Park.

In 2018, Historical Society board members Harry Came and Lori Nerheim, and Ty Rohrer - Manager of Cultural Arts for the District, began quiet discussions with a charitable foundation about the Carnegie Library building on Sheridan Road, then owned by the City of Waukegan. The building is an official Waukegan Landmark structure, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is an iconic downtown building which has been empty and neglected for more than 50 years. This building housed the library where Ray Bradbury, the famous author and Waukegan native, spent his childhood. Bradbury referred often to this building, and the children's reading room in particular, as being instrumental in his development as a writer.

In 2019, a feasibility study was completed by Harboe Architects, one of the most well recognized preservation architectural firms in the country, costing $85,000, entirely funded by a grant from a private charitable foundation. This study concluded that the building, once restored, would provide all of the uses proposed by the Society and District.

At the end of October 2019, we received word that all of our hard work had resulted in an additional grant of five million dollars from the private foundation for the restoration of the Carnegie Library Building. This money, money from the Society fundraising, other grants and gifts, as well as a commitment from the District to contribute to the project over five years has made the project a reality.

On December 10, 2019, a unanimous vote was taken by the Park District Board of Commissioners to take control of the Carnegie building as soon as specific conditions had been met with the City. The building was officially transferred to the Park District on August 13, 2020. Soon after, preservation architect Gunny Harboe of Harboe Architects and his team, working closely with the Society and District, began the process of delving into the schematic design phase of the project. The schematic design phase was completed in April 2021 with the design development completed by December 2021. After a 2-1/2 year process, in January 2022 the purchase of three small parcels to the north was completed to allow for an accessibility entrance and parking. The construction documents were finalized in June 2022 and bids were awarded by September 2022. Berglund Construction is managing the construction effort in collaboration with the project team. The Society and District were thrilled to break ground on their joint endeavor on October 18, 2022 and construction is currently underway with an anticipated opening in 2024.

The end result will be a world-class history museum in a landmark building downtown overlooking the lakefront that will revitalize the area. This will become a vibrant. welcoming learning center that will connect and tell the stories of our diverse community.