Libertyville's 97-year-old Brainerd Building finally coming down
An article in some editions of Thursday's Daily Herald misspelled Libertyville resident Michael Kollman's name.
As construction crews continued reducing Libertyville's former Brainerd school building to rubble Wednesday, local resident Michael Kollman visited the site and pondered the 97-year-old facility's inglorious demise.
"I'm sad," said Kollman, who lives across the street from the structure and unsuccessfully campaigned to save it. "I think it's a sad day for Libertyville."
Sad or not, the Brainerd Building is coming down - as is the adjoining Jackson Gym.
The land beneath them - still owned by Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 - eventually will be used for athletic fields and parking.
District officials have talked about demolition for more than a decade, going back to when the buildings were shuttered because of health and safety issues.
Kollman and other like-minded preservationists had hoped to save one or both of the structures, perhaps for use as a community center, but voters overwhelmingly rejected raising $11.5 million for that project earlier this year.
"(The) timing was bad," Kollman said of the referendum. "The economy was in a downturn, and people were looking at the cost."
Libertyville High security chief Mike Dolan attended Brainerd as a freshman decades ago. He also went to kindergarten there, because the local elementary schools open in the 1950s were at capacity.
His classroom was on the second floor of the Jackson Gym.
"I may be the only one who not only attended kindergarten and high school (at Brainerd) and now works for District 128," he said.
Dolan visited the Brainerd site Monday as demolition began. Despite his ties to the building, he doesn't feel badly about it coming down.
"It had become an eyesore and had fallen in disrepair," Dolan said. "The amount of money it would have taken to rehab the building would not have been money well spent."
A large, yellow excavator tore into the west side of the building Wednesday, bringing bricks and other material to the ground.
Hills of debris have formed on the site, and potentially reusable material is being set aside.
District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric snapped photographs of the work, as she has done each day since it began Monday.
"I've been sharing it with a lot of the staff at both (District 128) buildings, because they're not able to come down here and see the progress," Todoric said. She also has posted photos on the district's Facebook and Twitter pages.
Comments from social media followers have been mixed, Todoric said.
"(They're) mostly nostalgic," she said. "They're sad to see it go."
Libertyville High English teacher Meredith Tarczynski feels that way. A Libertyville High grad, she attended Brainerd as a freshman and taught there for a year, too.
She hopes to acquire a brick as a memento.
"It's a physical manifestation of what occurred there," Tarczynski said. "It was a great place to teach."
Officials have no plans to make debris from Brainerd available for public purchase. However, about 2,000 bricks and other architectural elements from Brainerd are being salvaged for use in a memorial to the school that will be erected on the site, Todoric said.
Honoring the building is important, Todoric said.
"It's certainly a piece of history," she said.
Quite a few students attained fame after leaving Brainerd, including legendary actor Marlon Brando, professional baseball player Brett Butler and musician and activist Tom Morello.
Responding to the Daily Herald, Morello, the celebrated guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and a solo performer, tweeted about the school's demise Wednesday.
"Prefer if it was a rec center but won't miss it," wrote Morello, whose mother was a Libertyville High teacher for more than 20 years.
The demolition should wrap up by mid-February, Todoric said.