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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: John Russell, Grant Writer
DATE: Aug. 27, 2019
SUBJECT:
Requesting approval to accept a grant for $750,000 from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Public Museum Capital Grant program to complete the restoration of the Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum.
PURPOSE:
This grant will allow for the completion of the restoration of the GAR Memorial Museum. This work will include the build-out of the Lower Level of the Museum as a space for local veterans to meet, just as they did when the GAR Hall opened in 1878. It also will involve: creation of new, rotating Museum exhibits with artifacts from the Museum collection focusing on the nation's conflicts from World War I through today; restoration of the four large, smoke-covered murals on the Main Level of the Museum; restoration of the Stair Tower section for further displays; creation of a model of the Sentry Statue, to be placed once again on the top of the Museum; and other work.
BACKGROUND:
This grant was originally awarded to the City of Aurora in Summer 2014, but was put on hold by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner when he took office in January 2015. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who took office in January 2019, has since released the funding. The City filed a new grant request, and the State approved the new Grant Agreement in August 2019.
The Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall, Post 20, was built in 1878 as a gathering place and tribute to Union Army veterans of the Civil War -- and as Aurora's first free public library. Its construction was funded entirely by donations from a grateful community, and it was built on land donated by one of Aurora's earliest settlers, Joseph Stolp. Over the years, more than 700 Union Army veterans were members of Aurora GAR Post 20. The Museum is on the National Register of Historic Places and in the Stolp Island Historic District. The GAR Museum was closed in the late 1990s because of concerns over the building's safety. After more than a decade of reconstruction and restoration work, the Museum reopened on Memorial Day 2016 -- but with displays only on the Main Level. This grant from the State will assist in the completion of the entire GAR Museum restoration project.
DISCUSSION:
About $2.75 million was spent on restoration and shoring up of the exterior of the building -- $2.2 million in City funding, and about $500,000 in grants from the state, county and private foundations. The $750,000 IDNR grant approved in 2014 would have allowed for the complete restoration of the interior of the building. When that grant was put on hold, the City used a $200,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, along with more than $200,000 in City funding, to create displays focusing on the Civil War, and complete most of the restoration of the Main Level of the Museum, allowing it to be reopened. The Museum project has been honored with the 2016 President's Award for Restoration from Landmarks Illinois, and the 2017 Small Institution of the Year Award by the Illinois Association of Museums.
No matching funds are required of the City for the IDNR Public Museum Capital Grant. The revenue for income and expenditures will be in the following established accounts:
Revenue Other/Grant-Grant- State- Other 101-1361-334.30-40;
Expenditure: Capital Outlay-Improvement/GAR Museum 101-1361-465.73-42
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Construction on the Lower Level of the Museum and other work is expected to start in Fall 2019, meaning the Museum will close several weeks earlier than usual. Work should be completed and the Museum reopened in Spring 2020.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I request approval by the City Council to accept a grant of $750,000 from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Public Museum Capital Grant program to complete the restoration of the Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum.
cc: Finance Committee
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTION NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
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A Resolution to accept a grant from the State of Illinois in the Amount of $750,000 to complete the restoration of the Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum
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WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the State of Illinois Department of Natural Resources offers the Illinois Public Museum Capital Grant Program to expand and upgrade public museum facilities and create new exhibits and other physical facilities to enhance their abilities to meet their mission; and
WHEREAS, the State approved, and the City accepted, a grant of $750,000 to complete the restoration of the Aurora Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum in 2014. That grant was put on hold by the State in 2015, however. New grant funding was released and a new Grant Agreement was signed by the State and City in 2019.
WHEREAS, Grant will be placed in the Revenue Other/Grant-Grant- State- Other 101-1361-334.30-40;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows: That the City of Aurora does hereby accept a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Public Museum Capital Grant Program in the Amount of $750,000 to complete the restoration of the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum.