A sculpture honoring a project undertaken more than 30 years ago was unveiled Sunday outside the Grand Avenue Community Center in Western Springs.
Dubbed “Community,” the sculpture depicts many facets of life in the community, said Jeanette Martin, secretary of the Western Springs Community Association, which was founded to save the former Grand Avenue School and turn it into a community center.
That project has been completed and the effort, which involved hundreds of volunteers over the decades, is winding down. The association formed 32 years ago to save the former Grand Avenue School from the wrecking ball. The elegant limestone structure, which was built in 1885, was turned into the Grand Avenue Community Center, which is located at 4211 Grand Avenue and today houses a preschool, music and dance classes, and a senior citizens center.
To honor the work that led to the creation of the center, the organization, as one of its final activities, commissioned a sculpture by Chicago artist Jan Repa. People gathered to watch as the sculpture was made public for the first time.
The sculpture is fashioned from fiberglass with a bronze patina and is designed to be sturdy, Martin said.
The artwork depicts a multi-generational group, and gives a nod to local history as well as to some of the activities that take place in Western Springs, such as reading and youth basketball. The sculpture features a woman painting a picture of the village’s historic water tower with a girl watching, a young couple holding a baby, and a man reading a book to a boy holding a basketball.
Saving the school and turning it into a thriving community center was a huge accomplishment, said Martin, one of the association’s original members.
“We just wanted the school to be used and not torn down,” said Sharon Bachmann, another early member of the group. “It seemed like a great place for a community center.
The school was in jeopardy in the 1980s when Western Springs Elementary District 101 was faced with decreasing enrollment and the school was in need of major improvements. The community association feared the building, which is lauded as one of the first public structures in the village, and surrounding green space, would be sold and replaced by residential development.
Hundreds of residents banded together to raise funds over the years to purchase the school. Martin said the sculpture is dedicated to the many people who worked to raise the $100,000 down payment and to pay off the bonds that completed the $490,000 purchase.
“It includes all the people of the community who use the building,” Martin said. “It’s a commemoration to the people who raised the money to save it.”
Over the years, Bachmann said the group hosted a variety of fundraisers including five house walks and a vintage car display. It turned ownership of the building over to the village, which is responsible for maintaining it.
“We did so many good things,” said Bachmann, who lives two doors away from the community center and is often thrilled to hear the voices of children playing on the playground.
With their vision of a community center fully realized, neither Martin nor Bachmann are sad to see the association disband.
“It turned out exactly as we hoped it would,” Bachmann said.
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