On the kind of summer night where people like to sit on the front porch, Duneland area residents celebrated the coming renovation of the Brown Mansion which will feature a re-creation of its grand, wraparound front porch.
About 70 people attended Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony in Chesterton for the restoration of the Brown Mansion and construction of a new barn-like structure that will house a museum now known as the Duneland History Center. Its former name was the Westchester Township History Museum.
Heather Chaddock, executive director of the Westchester Public Library, was grateful for the beautiful weather, especially after Monday’s destructive storm.
“It felt wildly optimistic to be making plans for this event with the wreckage of downed trees literally surrounding us,” Chaddock said.
The Brown Mansion, built in 1885, is a prime example of Victorian-style architecture that has earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
After serving as a family home, it became the offices for the Westchester School District and then the Duneland Schools in 1963.
The Westchester Public Library leased the Brown Mansion from the Duneland Schools and moved the museum into the building. The library took full ownership of the building in 2024.
Chaddock said after years of discussions, the plan is to restore the mansion and then to move all the exhibits and offices into the new barn structure on the property. The barn is being built in the style of the original structure that was on the property.
The project, supervised by Berglund Construction, will cost $6 million and it could be open by the spring or summer of next year.
Justin Martinson, president of Westchester Public Library Board of Trustees, holds fond childhood memories of the Brown Mansion.
His mother, Bridget Martinson, the longtime public relations and marketing director for Duneland Schools, would bring him over to the mansion on occasion.
As a youngster, Martinson said he liked to get Cokes and eat popcorn in the mansion’s basement. But he also loved to spend time in the third floor ballroom and remembers being captivated by the ornate woodwork and the stained glass windows.
Martinson said he believes the library board has been a good steward as the $6 million for the project had been saved up over the years. The new barn building for the history center will be better equipped to display and preserve artifacts.
And the Brown Mansion, with modern accommodations compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act rules, will be accessible for the entire community to see.
“Visitors will be able to experience the history that I could only imagine,” Martinson said.
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Jeff Schroeder is with the Moake Park Group Inc., the architect in charge of the project. He referred to the Brown Mansion as “the grand old lady.”
In a sense, this project is “bringing back her jewelry” like it was in the Victorian days, Schroeder said.
Schroeder said that they didn’t have the original blueprints, but there were numerous old photos used to design what will replicate the front porch and cupola.
“We’re going to bring her back to her historical glory,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder said that Chesterton is fortunate to have the Brown Mansion, along with the neighboring development of the YMCA turning the old Middle School site into a Healthy Living Campus.
“This site is very unique. You normally don’t find a super block like this in the middle of an established neighborhood,” Schroeder said.
Jane Walsh-Brown was so proud to be at Thursday’s groundbreaking. She was the first curator who organized the Westchester Township Museum in 1998, when it was housed in the basement of the Baugher Center building next to the library.
Now, the mansion will be open to the public and the Duneland’s historical artifacts will have their own home.
“I support the library board. This is just wonderful,” Walsh-Brown said.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.