Wheaton Warrenville District 200 to sell Hubble bricks

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 officials are selling keepsake bricks from the former Hubble Middle School as crews continue to demolish the Wheaton landmark.

Two public sales of the bricks are slated for 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday and 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 1 at the DuPage County Fairground’s west parking lot. A brick with a commemorative plaque costs $15, while a plain brick is $5.

Officials have fielded requests for nearly 700 bricks, district spokeswoman Erica Loiacono said.

Crews began tearing down the storied structure in September to prepare for the fall 2013 opening of a Mariano’s Fresh Market grocery store at the property on Roosevelt and Naperville roads.

The building opened in 1925 as Wheaton Community High School with notable alumni including Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and comedian John Belushi. It served as a middle school from 1992 to 2009.

For nostalgic locals, the bricks are a “small token that they can keep as a memento of their time in that school,” Superintendent Brian Harris said.

The brick sale marks one of the last chapters in the district’s lengthy ties to the site. And they are the last pieces of the property after the district sold desks, chairs and other artifacts from the school in a surplus sale in October 2011.

The district announced last summer the roughly $5 million sale of the former Hubble property to Chicago-based Bradford Equities LLC.

Meanwhile, Wheaton Park District will preserve and renovate a section of the property that contains three gymnasiums as part of a $3.25 million deal with Bradford. Donated open land that lies in a flood plain also will serve recreational purposes.

The brick sale is expected to be cost neutral for the district, Loiacono said. In addition, the district will donate bricks to parent teacher associations.

Only cash will be accepted. A white district truck will be at the west parking lot on the fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Road in Wheaton. For details, contact (630) 682-2469.