(The following story by Jessica L. Aberle appeared on the Peoria Journal Star website on January 25.)
GALESBURG, Ill. — An early announcement of a $200,000 Opportunity Returns grant to two Galesburg railroad organizations has been met with mixed reviews by the not-for-profit groups and city leaders.
The grant, funded through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, is part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s economic development plan for the West Central Illinois region. The Galesburg grant is aimed at increasing tourism. Blagojevich will unveil his entire economic development plan for the region at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Oakley Lindsay Center at 300 Civic Center Plaza in Quincy.
“We’re announcing a $200,000 grant that will help combine the National Railroad Hall of Fame and the Galesburg Railroad Museum,” Opportunity Returns spokesman Andrew Ross told the Journal Star. “It’s in the pipeline,” he said of the money.
“This is something that is going to happen, and it’s going to happen as quickly as possible.”
And while the combining of the organizations refers only to locating them under a single roof, not all parties involved favor that idea. In fact, Mike Godsil, president of the Galesburg Railroad Museum, doesn’t like the idea at all.
“We’ve had our plans in the works for three years,” Godsil said of the group’s planned construction of a new museum scheduled to break ground this summer and be completed in time to celebrate 150 years of railroading in Galesburg this December. “We’ve worked with the city, and we’ve already worked with a contractor.”
Former local businesswoman Marilyn Fagan, whose father worked for the railroad, recently willed $150,000 to the museum, a big boost to the group’s nearly four-year building fund drive.
In light of the shared grant money, Godsil said his group is willing to work with the NRHF, which currently operates out of the visitor’s center and doesn’t have a permanent home. But Godsil said he’d rather not share a building. At a recent meeting, Godsil said the two groups merely agreed to get along.
“We’ve run our museum for 22 years,” Godsil said. “They’ll want to start making guidelines, and we’re not about to turn (the museum) over to anybody.”
Robert Bondi, president of the NRHF, sees things differently. Locating the two railroad organizations under one roof would bolster their tourism draw.
“It’s terrific. It’s delightful,” he said of the grant announcement.
Individually, the NRHF has been scouting possible permanent locations, including renovating existing structures and building sites. Bondi said locating both organizations by Colton Park near the main Burlington Northern Santa Fe depot and where the rail line leads into the hump yard would be most desirable.
Currently the museum is located at Seminary and Mulberry streets near the Amtrak depot.
“The folks in Galesburg thought, and obviously we agree, that combining those two into one makes a lot of sense,” said former Macomb Mayor Tom Carper, the newly appointed director of the West Central Region for Opportunity Returns.
“The governor knows that we have to do everything we possibly can to help jump-start the economy there,” Ross said. “And providing this money to help jump-start tourism there is obviously a great start.”
Each year between 8,000 and 10,000 people visit the museum, Ross said. Based on estimates from the governor’s office, increasing attendance to about 13,000 a year could generate $845,000 for the community. If visitors stay in Galesburg for two days, the economic impact could reach $1.7 million, Ross said.
“And that’s going to create jobs.”
Mayor Robert Sheehan sure hopes so. By the time Maytag finally closes its doors at the end of the year, a total of 2,200 people will have lost their jobs. And with other area manufacturers cutting their work forces, some estimate unemployment in the community of 33,000 could reach 25 percent.
“This is one small thing,” Sheehan said of the announcement. “But even the small things help.”
The mayor said locating the two organizations under one roof would allow them to work together and help each other.
Sheehan, however, was reserving his excitement and hoping for something a little bigger at Blagojevich’s announcement on Wednesday. The mayor said he’s been told there could be as few as three announcements of aid for the Galesburg area or as many as seven.
“The more the better,” he said.
State Rep. Don Moffit, R-Gilson, said the railroad grant is part of the bigger plan to reinvent the Galesburg economy.
“Tourism is one of the pieces,” Moffit said. “That’s why Opportunity Returns is so important. The old way of making a living is unfortunately going by the wayside.
“Travel and tourism is the No. 2 industry in the state, that’s my understanding. And this is one more piece of the puzzle to make Galesburg a destination.”
Carper agreed: “Making this area into more of a tourist area is a great way to bring in much-needed dollars.”
Sheehan is hoping more of those dollars will be headed his way when the governor unveils the plan to bring opportunity back to the West Central region that includes Knox, Warren, Henderson, Hancock, McDonough, Schuyler, Brown, Pike and Adams counties.
“It’s part of opportunity returning,” Moffit said. “The National Railroad Hall of Fame and museum is huge. This announcement is huge. This is a good investment by the state.”