Hallways busy again at old Brainerd campus

Bustling hallways made it seem like old times Saturday at the former Brainerd Avenue high school campus in Libertyville.

An open house that attracted a steady stream of visitors was hosted by a community group trying to save the long-shuttered school and gymnasium. The school opened at Brainerd and Route 176 in 1917, followed by the gym addition in 1929.

Libertyville resident Sheila Lee was among the visitors who believe Brainerd is worth keeping.

"I just think it's a beautiful building," said Lee, who received a tour from a volunteer guide shortly after Libertyville High School's homecoming parade concluded.

Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 owns the Brainerd campus. The volunteer group that staged Saturday's event wants to turn the former Libertyville High campus into the Brainerd Community Center.

Brainerd Community Center Inc. organizers have until Dec. 1, 2011, to make an initial $250,000 payment on a sublease it has for the campus. Control of the buildings would revert to District 128 if the deadline passes.

Volunteers seeking to save Brainerd raised at least $40,000 from public events for the project as of August. They said the money has gone toward basic maintenance, building repairs and other expenses.

Despite some cracked windows and peeling paint in the hallways, Saturday's Brainerd open house designed to heighten awareness about its precarious future tripped many good memories for Libertyville High alumni.

Martha Liermann of Los Angeles was with a group of friends from the Libertyville High Class of 1980 who hung out in the school's separate Jackson gymnasium for a while. She was last in Brainerd in 1977, when it was a freshman-only school.

"It actually brought tears to my eyes, because it brought back so many memories," said Liermann.

Liermann said she'd like Brainerd to be preserved, but acknowledged there are financial limitations. She said one solution could be to gut the inside while keeping the redbrick exterior.

Brainerd's main building was closed for school use in 2000, but served other needs for three more years. Jackson gym shuttered in 2004.

Tour guide Bill Bruce, who graduated from Libertyville High in 1951, said he has particularly fond recollections of playing basketball and running on a second-story track above the stands in Jackson gym.

Bruce said the memories at Brainerd are worth saving. He said the sense of urgency for the volunteer group's deadline to raise enough cash to make the $250,000 sublease payment may spur support for the community center.

"It has to have an effect," Bruce said.