Developer provides cash for Grayslake museum expansion
A leading Lake County developer has contributed $250,000 to Grayslake to help pay the cost of a planned expansion of the village's historical museum.
It was the second major gift to Grayslake from the Esper A. Petersen Foundation within the last 10 years. In 1999, Petersen donated $750,000 toward the $2 million village aquatic center that carries his family's name.
Petersen said Grayslake Mayor Timothy Perry approached him about a possible contribution. He said he agreed to provide the gift because he likes the village and is a major history buff.
His fondness for Grayslake comes from having grown up there in the 1950s on the old Maple Line Farm, now the Prairie Crossing subdivision near Route 45.
"As long as I'm around, we're going to support the village," Petersen said Monday.
Grayslake village board members agreed in 2007 to set aside $1.4 million for the museum expansion in a fund dedicated to public facility construction. The $1.4 million came from royalty payments by an operation that produced electricity from landfill gases near routes 83 and 120.
Carrying a tentative price tag of $1.7 million on the low end, the museum at 164 Hawley St. would increase from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet. The facility, which has a variety of artifacts related to Grayslake's history and area settlers, is a former schoolhouse that was moved to the Hawley Street site in the late 1800s.
Trustee Rhett Taylor said there is much value in having a place where young and old alike can explore the history of where they live in downtown Grayslake.
"The key thing there from a village perspective is it adds something to the downtown that is unique," Taylor said.
Petersen's Gurnee-based company, Nordic Properties Inc., bills itself as Lake County's largest developer of single-tenant, free-standing industrial buildings. He divides his time between Illinois and California.
His foundation had about $6.7 million in net assets in 2007, according to the most recently available Internal Revenue Service records. Records show foundation grants from 2007 included $40,000 to the Los Angeles Opera, $1,000 for the Grayslake Historical Society, $20,000 to Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles and $1,075 to the Beverly Hills Women's Club.
Grayslake's museum is operated by the village's historical society. Historical society members are trying to raise additional money for the expansion.
Petersen said too many local historical societies disappear because of a lack of permanent facilities, but that won't be the case in Grayslake.