Dunn Museum Offers Free Admission To Celebrate 5-Year Anniversary

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — The Bess Bower Dunn Museum is celebrating its five-year anniversary at its current location at 1899 W. Winchester Road in Libertyville and will be offering free admission starting March 25 and continuing through April 2. Those wishing to get in for free will need to bring a non-perishable food item or toiletry, which will be collected at the museum and donated to the Libertyville Township Food Pantry.

Since opening in 2018, the Museum has hosted 10 special exhibitions including, Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross, Ansel Adams: Early Works and Reima Ratti: Life and Art in the Great Depression. There have also been three significant community projects that included Celebration of Souls: Day of the Dead in Southern Mexico, Our Voice is Black History and the COVID-19 Documentation Project.

"In addition, during the past five years, we have added a virtual presence for programming, collections and exhibits to our repertoire," Buckardt said. "More than 128,000 visitors have come through the Museum or attended a program either in-person or virtually."

The museum is named in honor of Lake County’s first official historian, Bess Bower Dunn, according to a news release.

Her determination to preserve the early history of Lake County resulted in a significant and lasting contribution—and one of the best cultural offerings in the Chicago area. The Lake County Forest Preserves, which operates the museum, is continuing her mission and sharing her innovative spirit with visitors of all ages, according to a news release.

Previously named the Lake County Discovery Museum, the museum opened in 1976 and operated for 40 years in a converted farm building at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda. The central Lake County location provides more than twice the gallery space for exhibitions about Lake County’s past than its previous site.

It also offers dedicated teaching areas, a public research center, as well as convenient access for all visitors. The nationally accredited Dunn Museum—a distinction held by only 3 percent of American museums—cares for a treasure trove of history about our region, according to Lake County Forest Preserve offiicials.

Other area accredited museums include the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Science & Industry. Lake County’s natural and cultural history is brought to life through a balance of interactive exhibitions, authentic artifacts, reproductions and audiovisual displays.

The Museum will be open with special hours during the five-year anniversary food drive. You can visit visit the museum's website for more details.