BLOOMINGTON —The McLean County Museum of History plans to renovate its building and expand its services, if it receives all or part of a $522,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that they applied for last month.

In March, IDNR announced it had $15 million available in its 2012 Illinois Public Museum Capital Grant Program.
“It’s from a pool of funds that were specifically set aside by the state legislature for capital projects for museums that are operated on publicly-owned property,” said McLean County Museum of History Executive Director Greg Koos. “We are qualified for the grant.”
The McLean County Board’s property committee agreed in May to apply for the grant to finance a proposed $522,000 project that would renovate aging restroom facilities, improve the exterior appearance and create a Heritage Tourism Center at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington.
According to Koos, the restrooms at the museum “are badly in need of rehabilitation.”
“One (restroom) was done about 55 years ago and the other one about 35 years ago and they need attention,” said Koos.
Project coordinators want to construct a grade-level entrance into the proposed Heritage Tourism Center on the south side of the museum to accommodate its handicapped visitors.
“It’s (current entrance) not an attractive entrance,” said Koos. “So we need to improve the appearance of it, and out of respect for those who can’t use the stairs, put in a grade-level entrance.”
The proposed Heritage Tourism Center would be built on the ground level of the museum. The rotunda on the ground floor would have a welcome desk, the north corridor would focus on Abraham Lincoln and the south corridor on Route 66. There would be five-minute videos in each corridor providing travelers with information.
“The museum’s effort is to develop services that would be of interest to heritage tourist travelers and people who engage in heritage tourism — that is people who drive to tour sites as a form of recreation for pleasure or people who are out looking for historic sites and information on historic activities,” said Koos. “It is the largest section of the traveling public.
“The museum wants to bring those folks into Bloomington. They can enjoy this facility, they can learn about historic Route 66, they can learn about Abraham Lincoln, they can learn about other things they can do in central Illinois.”
According to Koos, 120 million people visit heritage tourism sites every year. Those travelers spend an average of $1,000 per trip. The Heritage Tourism Center would be a way for the Bloomington-Normal community to capture some of those dollars, said Koos.
“Those folks will spend money on their trips, so there’s a definite economic aspect, in terms of heritage tourism here,” said Koos. “We believe that with appropriate marketing we can develop the attention of various tourists.”
IDNR will announce the recipients of its 2012 Illinois Public Museum Capital Grants in October.
McLean County is not guaranteed all or any of the $522,000 grant it is seeking. If it receives some but not all of the money, project coordinators would have to decide what could be done and what could be eliminated.
Construction on the project would start in the spring of 2013, if the museum receives the grant funds.
The museum has applied for and received two IDNR Illinois Public Museum Capital Grants in recent years. One grant allowed it to restore its building’s dome and bell, the other to replace air quality control units.