Brainerd backers to host Nov. 18 fund-raiser
LIBERTYVILLE -- Members of the Brainerd Community Center will host a fund-raiser Nov. 18 to save historic Brainerd High School and its Jackson Gym and convert it into a community center.
John Snow, president of the nonprofit Brainerd Community Foundation, said the fund-raiser will take place between 5:30 and 8 p.m. at Mickey Finn's Brewery, 412 N. Milwaukee Ave. Snow can be reached at johnesnow@hotmail.com .
Tickets cost $20.12, available in advance at Village Hall or at the Libertyville Civic Center, next to St. Lawrence Episcopal Church on West Church Street.
Brainerd was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Brainerd High School opened as Libertyville Township High School in 1917 with 138 students attending from as far away as Fox Lake. Thirty-nine seniors graduated in 1921.
In 1929, the adjacent Jackson Gym opened as one of the premier indoor athletic facilities in Lake County.
In 1954, with the opening of the new Libertyville High School campus on the shores of Butler Lake, Brainerd was used only for entering freshmen classes.
When District 128 opened Vernon Hills High School in 1999-2000, classes were permanently discontinued at Brainerd. However, its athletic field continues to be used occasionally for supplemental athletic events.
Some of the notable graduates of Brainerd include two-time Academy Award winner Marlon Brando, Major League Baseball player Brett Butler, and WGN-TV news anchor Mark Suppelsa.
In 1999, film director John Hughes used Brainerd as the set for the movie "New Port South."
After a brief period when Libertyville's Parks and Recreation Department used Brainerd for hosting some of its programs, use was then discontinued in 2003. The building remains vacant.
The building was named to the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Register of Historic Places in 2007. This year it was placed on the Watch List of the Illinois Landmarks Council as being in danger of facing demolition.
In 2006, District 128 and the village of Libertyville negotiated a 50-year lease, with a sublease granted to the Brainerd Community Center Foundation to establish a community center.
The Foundation is in the process of raising funds to carry out an extensive renovation "to restore Brainerd as a gathering place for all."
