DuPage Children's Museum to reopen in September
The Naperville-based DuPage Children's Museum will reopen Sept. 19, officials said Tuesday, roughly eight months after flood damage from broken water pipes forced the closure of the three-story facility at 301 N. Washington St.
"The hard reality of rebuilding an entire museum is that there are so many moving pieces, timelines can fluctuate almost daily," Kimberly Stull, director of exhibits and operations, said in a news release. "One day you're ahead of schedule, the next day you're a week behind."
In addition to work on the building, which has been closed since mid-January, crews also have had to build or repair virtually every exhibit in the museum, officials said. The process of developing new exhibits, which usually takes about two years, was shortened to months, they said.
When museum officials realized the Naperville facility would be closed for an extended period, they opened a temporary site in February at Westfield Fox Valley shopping center in Aurora. Called DCM@TheMall, the temporary museum has drawn substantial crowds, President/CEO Sarah Orleans said in the release.
She said museum officials considered maintaining a presence at the mall after the Naperville building reopens but "given the financial and human resources needed, we have concluded that it is not feasible."
The museum at the mall will remain open through at least Aug. 31.
When the Naperville facility reopens, officials said its hours will be extended on Thursday and Friday nights during the school year. Many of the museum's exhibits will be familiar, they said, but some new ones are being kept under wraps until the reopening.
For more details, visit www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org.