County has duty to protect farm site
The Discovery Museum assumed responsibility for the Lake County Historical Society archives in 1954 and guarded our past ever since. Around 1967 Lakewood Farms was given to the Lake County's Forest Preserve for $1. The site combines history and nature at one exceptional location.
The Discovery Museum in Wauconda and its partner societies are visited by more than 50,000 people every year. In September. the forest preserve plans to move the museum to a corporate campus in Libertyville devoid of cultural integrity and level the farm site under the pretense of being fiscally responsible.
Yet, the plan is to spend $1.6 million to upgrade the corporate building for the museum. A recent news article also reported that one goal is to install a "state-of-the-art, collapsible storage facility for the archives there.
How much will that cost?
Board members promised to support the county Regional Framework Plan, which states. "Before building something new, be certain that you're using what you already have. In the year 2020, Lake County will have a superior open space network that preserves natural resources, and cultural resources, to promote and enhance functioning ecosystems and the quality of life of all residents."
Tearing down historic commercial and other non-residential buildings can detract from the community character. People will miss that farm. The archives building is pre-Civil War and is on the 1861 county map.
The farmstead dates to 1937 and is the only remaining gentleman's farm in the area. It is the board's duty to protect it.
Nancy Schumm
Lake Barrington