IMLS Stories: Restoring a Community Centerpiece

On March 14, 2025, Executive Order 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). 

RAILS is spotlighting libraries and institutions in Illinois that have received IMLS grant money and sharing how they used those funds. These posts are featured in our IMLS Stories Series.  

Our goal is to raise awareness of the impact of IMLS funding and to encourage heightened advocacy moving forward.  

For the latest updates regarding IMLS, please refer to RAILS IMLS Pulse Page. 

This week’s featured grant recipient is Streator Public Library. They received funding for a three-part restoration of their Carnegie library building, specifically the library’s central dome. The grant funded the restoration and preservation of the dome and its detailed murals painted by Gustav Fuchs. 

Funded through the Save America’s Treasures Act, this grant is a partnership between IMLS, the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is unique from some of the other grant programs in that it requires funds to be matched one-to-one through nonfederal programs.  

Spearheaded by former director, Cynthia Maxwell, the Dome project received funding in FY 2022. The grant matched the community fundraised amount of $139,075, totaling over a quarter of a million dollars for the project.  

I spoke with Melissa Badger, Streator Public Library’s Director, about their dome restoration project. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.  

GG: Tell me about your project and your role within it.  

MB: Our Dome Project was very special to our community. We have a 125-year-old Carnegie Building. It was built in 1903, and we are one of the few Carnegie libraries that has a dome with murals in it. The murals were placed in the dome in 1905, and they’re beautiful, but in 1945, they sustained smoke damage from a boiler room fire. They were never repaired after this. We’ve been sitting here for over half a century with smoke damaged murals that were still lovely and still important to history and the community, but we just didn’t have the finances to repair them. So, we got a matching funds grant through the IMLS. There was quite a bit of fundraising within the community. 

GG: How long did the fundraising process take? What was that like?  

MB: It took a good year to get those matching funds. We had events. We had mini golf events, almost a door-to-door kind of thing, and we had a lot of publicity. Some of the people who donated money have a long history in this community. But it seemed like every single person pitched it to make it happen.  

GG: How did the initial goals for the funding align with the results of the restoration?  

MB: Our restoration was a three-pronged process. First of all, the electrical in the dome had to be replaced. All of the lights had been there for decades and decades. When we got into the dome, there was some water damage between the dome and the roof, and then that had to be replaced. That was an added thing that we didn't expect. It [Lighting] was replaced with energy efficient low voltage lights. We were able to get the artwork cleaned, and all the plasterwork repaired. There were massive cracks in the plasterwork, and you could tell it was going to come down. We were sitting at the desk one day, and had this chunk of plaster just fall on top of us. So that was not wonderful. And I think that's one of the things that kicked this into action. If we didn’t do something, we would lose not only the dome, but the whole building.  

GG: Do you think the funds from the IMLS allowed you to take action? 

MB: There was no way on earth we could have done it without those funds. Working with IMLS to get the funding was as seamless as possible. It was wonderful to work with them every time I sent the paperwork in to get the checks cut. It made a huge difference to have the staff on hand there to be able to facilitate this so easily. 

GG: There was an important timing aspect of this, too, right? lt was something that needed to be completed sooner rather than later.  

MB: We were in danger of losing the whole dome. Yes. And we're in the National Historic registry. There is wide recognition of the historical significance of our building. It would have been a crime to lose this place. 

GG: Did you have additional concerns about general building management, regarding weather, insulation, or something similar?   

MB: Absolutely. We had to have the roof redone around the dome, too, because of the leaks that we found. So that was, of course, an added timeframe and expense. But if we had not started this project, who knows what kind of further damage would have been done because nobody realized it was leaking inside the dome and the impact on the electrical.  

GG: That’s a danger to your collection, right? Because if you have, you know, faulty electrical with a leak, it can be dangerous.  

MB: The building would have been gone. 

And we've been working so hard to make this [the library] a centerpiece for the community. We've been expanding all our services, and losing this place would be a huge downfall for the community.  

GG: Absolutely. I can imagine. It seems like the restoration has become a symbol of hope in your community. 

MB: Yes, we’ve had visitors from all over the country coming to tour Carnegie libraries, stopping specifically because they knew we were doing this dome restoration. It was amazing and magical. It touched everybody.  

GG: How long did the entire restoration project take?  

MB: About a year.  

GG: What feedback did you get from the community after it was completed?  

MB: Well, we made a joke that we needed to start giving people neck pillows because everybody who walked in just spent so much time with their heads tilted back, staring up at the dome, marveling at it. So yeah, it had a huge impact in the community. I think it always will because, like you said, it is a symbol of hope. It's a symbol of our history as a town. Parma Conservation, Oosterbaan Painting, and Proud Electric were our three contractors. They all went above and beyond to make sure that first, they did the job that needed to be done to make the building safe and secure, and secondly, not deviate from the historical aspect. 

GG: And you mentioned a little bit about how now you have the opportunity to expand your library services. I'm wondering what that looks like for you. 

MB: Since we don't have those huge expenses every year, we've been able to do things like make our library more accessible. We've put accessible computers out with bigger screens and track balls, and we've been able to expand services for domestic abuse survivors. We've expanded our bilingual section. We have done things that have kind of been on the back burner. We've pursued other grants for maker stations which bring people in, and we’ve put computers in our teen section. Now, as soon as school gets out, there's a huge group of teens who come in waiting for their turn to play on gaming computers.  It’s a huge snowball effect. 

GG: You mentioned previous expenses associated with building management. What type of expenses?  

MB: We constantly had roof leaks. And literally had bats in the dome. I was sitting at the front desk one day, and a bat swooped down out of the dome. We would have probably five bats in a month during certain seasons, just because of all the cracks. 

GG: Is there anything else you would like to share?  

MB: Our former director, Cynthia Maxwell, was a huge part in obtaining this grant and facilitating this grant, and I can never thank her enough for what she's done for our community. She, along with IMLS, our board of trustees, and the people of the community, reached deep inside to work together and get this done, and it will make this library stand for another hundred years. 

For more information and photos of the Dome Project, please refer to the Streator Public Library website.  

As we continue this series, we hope to explore more of the ways that IMLS funding has benefitted library communities throughout Illinois. If your library has received IMLS funding and you would like to be featured in this series, please send inquiries to RAILS Communications Intern, Gwen Gemmell.

Special thanks to Melissa Badger for her time and assistance.