Historic McKee House Receives Grant For Structural Repairs

GLEN ELLYN, IL — Last year, the historic McKee House in Churchill Woods Forest Preserve was on Landmarks Illinois's roundup of endangered sites. This year, the group fighting to preserve the 82-year-old home received a $2,000 grant from Landmarks Illinois for its future repairs, helping to buoy ongoing efforts to save the house.

The $2,000 grant — one of five grants awarded to select historic sites throughout Illinois — will be used to fund work on the roof and help re-stabilize the limestone structure.

In 2017, village officials determined it would be pricier to fix and maintain McKee House than it would be to destroy it. The village ultimately a greed to lease McKee House from the Forest Preserve District.

The agreement came with a caveat, though: the village only has until October 2019 to come up with the necessary $400,000 to fund the building's repairs.

The lease began in early March 2018, more than a year earlier than it was set to start, Suburban Life reports. This helps give preservationists a headstart on fundraising and repairs.

With the fate of McKee House clinging onto a somewhat less tenuous thread than before, the Landmarks Illinois grant aids preservationists in the first steps on their long journey of getting the property where it needs to be to remain a living relic of the area's history.

Image via GoogleMaps, Streetview