KidsWork Children's Museum Moving Out Of Frankfort

FRANKFORT, IL — With the news that KidsWork Children's Museum is relocating to New Lenox, the museum's board president is reassuring residents that the museum will "still serve the same Lincoln-Way area that we do today."

The KidsWork Children's Museum has been located in the Trolley Barn, 11 S. White St., since 2007. On Thursday, the Village of New Lenox announced that the museum will find a new home in their community, as well as a brand-new space.

The Village of New Lenox will build a 12,000-square-foot facility at the entrance to the New Lenox Commons, set alongside Route 30. Plans also include a 4,200-square-foot, outdoor interactive play and picnic area for families.

The new museum construction is expected to start in June 2023, with a Spring 2024 opening, and is projected to cost approximately $4 million.

Board President Belinda Basso wrote on the museum website that "as a Frankfort resident," she wanted to keep the museum in Frankfort.

"The KWCM Board has spent several years trying to align ourselves with Frankfort either through the Village, Frankfort Park District or Frankfort Square Park District partnering with the museum," she wrote. "Unfortunately, the opportunity to partner with the museum was declined."

Due to the growth of the museum, Basso said that a volunteer-only board is no longer the right fit.

"We are financially sound and in an excellent position for a municipality to partner with us as we are self-sustaining," she said.

When the museum was presented with the option from New Lenox, Basso wrote that the museum communicated with the Village and park districts.

"In the end, moving to a space that is nearly double our current size, with an additional outdoor space, under the Village of New Lenox was too good to pass up," Basso said.

The museum's current board of directors will serve as an advisory committee to the Village of New Lenox.

Mayor Keith Ogle told Patch that the Village was recently made aware of the museum's announcement of its move to New Lenox.

"The Village of Frankfort had planned to have the Children's Museum come to our next committee meeting as they had requested, to make a presentation about their future. We were not made aware that they would be making any final decision prior to this meeting," Ogle said.

The museum president will attend the April 12 Committee of the Whole meeting as previously planned and make their presentation before the Frankfort Village Board and answer questions, Ogle said.

"The Village has been a long-time supporter of the museum providing financial support since its inception. It is important for the residents to understand the financial impact taking over the museum would have on the Village's budget as has been suggested by the museum leadership," he said. "We hope to have more information in the near future about this important matter."