December 28, 2007

Kenosha Public Museums Ready for History Lessons
Civil War Museum to boost region's tourism attractions

By Megan Hupp
The Business Journal of Milwaukee

Anyone remotely familiar with American history can tell you southeast Wisconsin is far from the historic battlefields of the Civil War. But the Kenosha Public Museums are banking on the idea that most people don't know how much the Midwest actually contributed to the Civil War.

This spring, the group that operates the Kenosha Public Museum and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha will open the Civil War Museum, dedicated to educating visitors about the important contributions the upper Midwest made to the war effort in the 1860s.

According to Peggy Gregorski, development coordinator at the Kenosha Public Museums, those contributions include everything from troops, wheat, lead and even beer from Milwaukee.

The 57,000-square-foot museum will cost around $14.8 million, not including an additional reenactment video that won't be ready until summer 2009. Tax incremental financing is paying for the $14.8 million cost of building and exhibit construction, at 5400 First Ave. in Kenosha's Harbor Park neighborhood.

Pictured: Peggy Gregorski, development coordinator for the Kenosha Public Museums (photography by Scott Paulus).

The area surrounding the museum and its neighbor, the Kenosha Public Museum, has been developed into residential condos. Gregorski said the successful condo sales mean that additional TIF dollars are available for further development in the Harbor Park area. TIF will not finance the $1.5 million reenactment video. The museum is also fundraising on the side and seeking philanthropic partners.

Project started in 2002

Conceptual and exhibit planning began in 2002 after Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian and Carthage College began the hunt for a permanent home for the college's collection of Civil War artifacts. As a result, the museum will be dedicated on March 29 before Antaramian completes his mayoral term, but will not officially open its doors until June.

Museum officials wanted to honor Antaramian, who won't be seeking a new term, and his work on the project while he is still in office.

The museum will be run much like the two others in its group. Four full-time hires will staff the Civil War Museum and part-time staff will be trained to work in all three of the group's museums.

The Civil War Museum will take visitors through the changes in middle American life sparked by the Civil War. Visitors will enter the museum through a small Midwest town at the onset of the war and will travel to the battlefront with supplies from the upper Midwest. After experiencing the battlefront, they will return to the rural Midwest to see the changes in hometown life brought on by the war. The museum will also have a Veterans Memorial Gallery to honor the veterans of all wars.

"If you take away the weapons and technology, all veterans experience the same sense of patriotism, loneliness and duty," Gregorski said.

A final gallery will address the importance of the Civil War in today's society. Gregorski said that many of the issues in American political, economic and social life in the 1860s are relevant today.

"The same issues that caused the war are challenges we face today," Gregorski said. "Personal rights, state rights vs. the federal government -- how have those changed and how do we deal with them today?"

But the museum's crown jewel will be the 360-degree video screen that will immerse visitors in a reenacted battle. The reenactment video alone will cost $1.5 million and won't be ready until nearly a year after the museum opens in June 2008.

"It gives the sense that you're in the middle of the war. It's the experience of what it was like to be in battle," Gregorski said. "It will be the climax of the museum exhibit experience."

The exhibits, designed by Wilmette, Ill.-based Exhibit Design Central, will be purchased, donated or visit the museum for a short amount of time. Museum directors have partnered with local colleges that have donated collections in their possessions.

Carroll College in Waukesha gave its W. Norman FitzGerald collection of more than 2,000 books and letters and Carthage College in Kenosha donated its 600-piece Frank Palumbo collection. Palumbo, a collector from Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s, amassed many Civil War artifacts including artists' prints of every battle.

Tom Noer, a professor of history at Carthage, said that while the prints are "good art but not great history" they are significant because Palumbo owned the entire set. Noer said he plans on taking his history classes to see the collection in its new home but also believes the museum will be an attraction for tourists.

"It draws not just the Civil War expert but the general public that might not know much about the war in the Midwest," Noer said.

This is exactly the reaction museum officials are hoping for. Lynn Wilk, special events coordinator for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and president of the Friends of the Kenosha Public Museums board, said the Civil War Museum will be an important piece of the fabric of the community.

"People have come to expect great museums from this community. They've been absolutely amazed at the facilities we've got. It's really exciting," Wilk said.

Thousands of visitors

Gregorski said she expects the Civil War Museum to draw around 300,000 visitors each year. The Kenosha Public Museum will reach around 140,000 visitors for 2007 by the end of the year and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum should see 45,000 guests by then. The Civil War Museum will attract visitors from a wider area because of its focus on regional contributions and reaction to the Civil War, Gregorski said.

Thousands of visitors

Gregorski said she expects the Civil War Museum to draw around 300,000 visitors each year. The Kenosha Public Museum will reach around 140,000 visitors for 2007 by the end of the year and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum should see 45,000 guests by then. The Civil War Museum will attract visitors from a wider area because of its focus on regional contributions and reaction to the Civil War, Gregorski said.

As Kenosha grows, because of its location between Chicago and Milwaukee, the community must offer attractions visitors would normally find in large metropolitan areas, Wilk said.

"As our community grows, it's imperative that our cultural offerings grow," she said.

The Civil War Museum's dedication to educating visitors on relatively unknown pieces of American history is a sign that the Kenosha Public Museums are filling a niche, Wilk said.

"We're definitely up-and-coming and I think we've arrived," she said.