Time Running Out for Historic McKee House

For awhile, it seemed like the historic McKee house was going to be just fine.

In 2006, the DuPage County Forest Preserve was looking to raze the Depression-era buildings that housed the forest preserve’s first superintendent, Robert McKee, and the preserve’s original headquarters

 It met resistance from not only the relatives of Robert McKee, DuPage County’s first forest preserve superintendent, but from Linda Gilbert, president of Citizens for Glen Ellyn Preservation.

With a renovation price tag coming in at $456,000, the forest preserve argued that the building was too expensive to maintain. Demolishing the building was a cheaper option; in 2006, that option was just under $100,000.

Gilbert disputed the preserve administration’s statements about the building being in a state of disrepair, stating that both the interior and exterior were in good condition.

Nonetheless, Gilbert and her allies tried to find alternative uses for the building, reaching out to local organizations and colleges. Hope seemed to arrive in the form of the DuPage Housing Authority, which pledged to renovate the building into a home for retired veterans. Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

For the past four years their leases were held by the DuPage Housing Authority, the buildings further languished. When it was revealed that the Wheaton-based agency improperly misspent more than $5.8 million in federal dollars, the leases were not renewed.

Now, there is worry that the buildings might be bulldozed. Bill Weidner, director of the district's Office of Public Affairs, said as of Monday no official action has been taken in regards to this matter. But Gilbert said they do not have much time. Forest preserve commissioner Mike Formento said the preservation efforts have no more than six months to find funding.

Formento said he has been holding off the district’s efforts to demolish the building, which has been described as the only remaining alternative.

“The district has no use for the building, and the building is in deplorable condition, and the funds aren’t available to guarantee the remodeling of the facility,” Formento said. “So the only alternative is to take it down.”

Weidner said that the decision—and responsibility—to demolish the buildings lie with the commission, of which Formento is a member. District staff can make recommendations, but “it’s entirely up to the forest preserve commission to make that determination.”

Gilbert believes other uses can be found for the buildings, and that once it is restored and re-purposed, it could support itself.

“It would be a really great nature center or something tied to environmental issues,” Gilbert said.

Other funding options outside the district are being considered. Gilbert said she in talks with National Historic Trust to secure a grant for the needed renovation. The price is too steep for the forest preserve; Formento said renovations would cost between $500,000 and $750,000.

Gilbert believes it is vital to save the house, and that the struggle here is symbolic. 

“We have a tendency to demolish our built history and we are doing it at a faster and faster rate these last couple of decades,” Gilbert said. “If we continue to do this we will just be another homogenized place of tract houses and shopping centers, bereft of any evidence of our unique and interesting history.”

Gilbert said her group has been working behind the scenes with different groups to try to establish some sort of partnership to save the buildings. Formento said those interested in saving the buildings are meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Glen Ellyn Civic Center.

“We would encourage the public to come in the hopes that they have a solution,” Formento said.