Public money might help fund history campus

A proposal seven years in the making to create a history campus in Des Plaines would likely involve public dollars, city officials said Monday night.

There is no price tag yet on the project to give the Des Plaines History Center a new facility that would triple its current space and capitalize on the McDonald's museum already standing off Lee Street in the downtown.

The first hospital in the Northwest suburbs, which is now a motel near the fast food giant's museum, could be incorporated into the plans.

Whatever the cost of the massive project, there is support among top city officials.

"This is kind of a unique plan," Mayor Tony Arredia said. "We probably will be coming back to the city for funding."

History center officials gave a presentation before the city council Monday.

The proposal to expand the history center is being paired with Arredia's planned riverwalk. That project to extend a bicycle trail along the Des Plaines River, and improve horse trails and boat docks, gained momentum from the Levee 50 project, which is under way to add a trail along the river in the downtown. This was a side benefit to the flood-control project.

The city has won $1.8 million for its riverwalk plans, Arredia said.

Cook County officials also have given a "verbal handshake" to plans to use forest preserve property for the trail.

State officials also are expected to donate the portion of Lee Street near the McDonald's museum due to a planned River Road resurfacing project, city officials said. This could aid the idea of building a history mall.

McDonald's officials who have met with the city apparently backed the plan.

Second Ward Alderman Marty Moylan, who is the city's representative for the project, said there is no cost estimate yet for the plan. An idea to gut the Polo Inn motel, which was the suburbs' first hospital, to use as the history center's new space already has been ruled out, Moylan said. It wouldn't give the center the space it needs, he said. But officials are thinking about keeping the façade.

Likewise, Moylan said the plan to move the history center's Kinder House across Miner Street to the planned history campus appears to have been nixed because it would cost too much.

The history center now has 9,060 square feet but wants to increase its space to 30,000, said John Burke, historical society president. Then, the history center could function as a welcome center for Des Plaines visitors.

History center employees are working amid "cramped conditions," Burke said.

Third Ward Alderman Laura Murphy immediately voiced support for the plan. "I certainly know the need to proceed and preserve history," Murphy said.