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Nello (Bill) Lucchesi started a conversation on Facebook the other day, about a restoration project in Waukegan (IL), related to the Carnegie Library. It was Waukegan’s first public library, but was neglected for decades after its collection moved to a new, “modern” building during the 60’s.  The old Carnegie building deteriorated so much that it was almost demolished during the 1990s.

This Carnegie library is where Ray Bradbury grew up, checking out 10 books at a time, even though the librarian said that she didn’t think the kid could finish them before the books needed to be returned. In fact, Waukegan was the basis for his fictional village of Green Town, Ill in Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Nello, Anne Pfaelzer and I, and along with other Sunset Ridge grads remember reading Bradbury’s stories in Mr Ratacjzak’s 8th Grade. Maybe you read them all too. Our conversation inspired me to pick up Dandelion Wine again, and it’s my book for May.

By now you’re probably thinking, “Get to the point, van Vliet.” The restoration took years and more than $15 Million, and opened just this month, May 2025. And it turned out beautifully. This Carnegie library was built during the early 1900s at a cost of $25,000—nearly $1 million in today’s dollars—that was donated by Andrew Carnegie, who funded the construction of 1,679 libraries nationwide.  The restoration brought the library back to the warmth and appearance of the 1900s and 1920s when Bradbury spent time there. WBEZ article click here

(The article is worth signing up for, if you can’t read the article without giving your email address.)

So, what IS the point? We learned that the restoration was managed by one of our classmates from Sunset Ridge '69 and NTW ’73, Gunny Harboe! https://www.harboearch.com/t.-gunny-harboe--faia.html Gunny has been restoring wonderful buildings (including Sullivan’s Carson Pirie Scott in the Loop, more than a couple Frank Lloyd Wright classics around Chicago, and lots of others) throughout his career. https://www.harboearch.com/projects.html

So, not only has a wonderful North Shore Library been brought back from the brink, we’ve established a connection to High School and Junior High English class with Bradbury’s classics, and we’ve shared something about one of our classmates, Gunny Harboe, https://www.newtrierwest1973.com/class_profile.cfm?member_id=5779232 

(Rick van Vliet, Nello Lucchesi)
May 22, 2025