Lakes Region Historical Society ‘raising the roof’ for museum
By Diana Kuyper special to the news-sun July 29, 2011 8:24PM
The Lakes Region Historical Society has launched a “raise the roof” fund-raising campaign to replace the roof on the schoolhouse museum located at 817Main St. in Antioch. | Thomas Delany Jr.~ Sun-Times Media
Want to help?
Donations to the historical society are tax deductible, and can be mailed to Lakes Region Historical Society, 965 Main St., Antioch IL 60002. More information about the organization can be found on the Web site,
www.lakesregionhistory.org.
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Updated: July 30, 2011 2:07AM
Lakes Region Historical Society has launched a “raise the roof” fund-raising campaign to replace the roof on the schoolhouse museum, 817 Main St., Antioch.
With a dwindling membership and revenues, the historical society is seeking tax-deductible donations to replace the leaking roof on the building owned by Grade School District 34.
“We lease the building and our agreement requires us to maintain it,” said historical society president Wendy Maston.
The former school house at Depot and Main streets dates back to 1892. The historical society renovated the building about 30 years ago to house its extensive collection of Antioch area artifacts and memorabilia, with different rooms housing displays depicting a Victorian parlor, farm kitchen, dining room and bedroom, a one-room school, the old town pump, native American artifacts, the once-famous local lotus beds and the ice-cutting industry.
The museum also has an old Main Street display depicting former local businesses. The museum is open to the public every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment. Admission is free.
Thanks to the late Dolly Spiering who bequeathed $1.5 million to the historical society when she died in 1999, the society not only renovated the school house for its museum, but subsequently purchased and renovated The Meeting House, 977 Main St., built in 1863, the neighboring rectory to the south and the frame house to the north, which once housed Lasco’s Florist.
Shortly after receiving the Spiering money the society purchased the meeting house from St. Ignatius Episcopal Church, pouring thousands of dollars into restoring it to its original design as a New England-style white frame church. “It is the oldest building in Antioch and we could not let it go the way of the wrecking ball,” said Maston, whose father Robert Lindblad spearheaded the project. He died in December 2002, only a month after the Meeting House Museum was dedicated.
The historical society also used some of the Spiering inheritance to purchase the rectory, which Antioch Fine Arts Foundation uses as its gallery. After purchasing Lasco’s Florist to the north of The Meeting House, the greenhouses were torn down for a parking lot and the building at 965 Main St. was turned into the society’s archives center.
After completing the purchases and renovations, society members invested the balance of the Spiering fund and were confident the interest it earned would pay their annual expenses.
“Then the market crashed and we lost more than half of our initial investment, or about $200,000. We no longer generate enough revenue to pay all the bills,” said Maston.
Maston admits the society keeps a low profile in the community. Older residents take it for granted that the organization is comfortably meeting expenses with the Spiering money; most new residents don’t even know about the treasure trove of history gathered and maintained by the historical society. “New residents would be blown away by how much history we have preserved, but it takes money to maintain it.”
“Most people don’t realize how much renovation has gone into The Meeting House and the school house,” said Maston. The archives center houses thousands of historical documents, photos and records open to anyone researching local history.
The archives center is open to the public the first Saturday of the month and weekly Monday through Wednesday by appointment.
In an effort to introduce Antioch history to children, society members have been taking school groups and scouts on museum tours, following their motto, “preserving the past to educate the future” and are promoting the meeting house for community meetings and private events, including weddings and parties, in addition to special shows and exhibits.
“We need to raise our profile in the community and toot our own horn a bit more,” said Maston. Toward that goal a letter seeking donations for the “raise the roof” fund has been mailed out to all residents and businesses, with the roof replacement project scheduled for later this year.
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