The mission of the newest of the Navy’s 12 official museums, the Great Lakes Naval Museum, is not to tell the story of famous leaders or explain the workings of technological developments. Nary an airplane hangs from the ceiling, and the nearest saltwater is more than 1,000 miles away. “This is the only official Navy museum in the Midwest and the only one devoted to telling the story of boot camp and the role of the enlisted sailor,” explained director Jennifer Searcy. “That’s a story worth telling.”
The museum sits on Navy property just outside the fence line of Naval Station Great Lakes, home to the Navy’s only boot camp, Recruit Training Command (RTC), and 19 of its technical service, or A, schools. The base lies in Illinois on the western shore of Lake Michigan, roughly halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. At 1,628 acres, it is by far the Navy’s largest training installation. Since 1995 all enlisted sailors have attended boot camp at RTC, and after graduation many move to new berthing down the street to attend an A school.
At the museum, boot camp gets the most attention. An exhibit titled “From Civilian to Sailor: The Navy’s Eight-Week Boot Camp” covers that story one week at a time, from arrival and the accompanying rounds of medical checkups and uniform issue, through increasingly sophisticated training, to graduation. This display is particularly meaningful to a special Navy constituency: families. Thousands of parents, siblings, and friends descend annually on RTC for graduation ceremonies that are held weekly, making Thursdays and Fridays the museum’s busiest days. (Graduations are open to the public and are must-sees for naval-history buffs.)
Sharing the boot-camp story wasn’t always easy. Founded in 1997 as a command exhibit in an empty building behind the fence, the original museum became largely inaccessible to the general public when security was tightened after 9/11. But in 2006, the Navy obtained funding to demolish a building on the base. It was during a review required before demolition that the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency determined the building merited protection as a historic landmark. Also, because it was outside the fence, it was not technically on the base.
Originally known as the Hostess House and built as a social center for sailors, the 1942 structure was the first military contract for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, a Chicago partnership that would become a premier architectural firm. The long, low structure is an important example of modern American design and is notable for its use of laminated wood, a plentiful alternative to the steel that was in short supply during World War II. Its location on the fence line allowed easy access to the public (girls) on one side and sailors (boys) on the other. “I’d like to think that by establishing the museum here we’re bringing this building back to its original role as a social center,” said Searcy.
Easily accessible from the north Chicago metropolitan area, the museum also devotes space to the history of the naval station, which celebrates its centenary in 2011. Authorized in 1905 and open to the first recruits six years later, Great Lakes was established in the Midwest in recognition of the fact that a significant percentage of Navy recruits came from the heartland. No less than John Philip Sousa served as Great Lakes’ first bandleader. Swelling to maximum capacity to train sailors for World War I, the base was essentially mothballed between the wars, coming back to life in the 1930s when a new threat loomed. Major capital investment in A schools during the Cold War paid off in the 1990s, when Great Lakes was chosen over boot camps in Orlando and San Diego to become the only initial-accession training facility for enlisted sailors.
Additional displays focus on diversity in the Navy, with special emphases on the role of women and the story of the Golden Thirteen, the first black naval officers. Training was integrated at Great Lakes in 1944, four years before President Harry Truman ordered the military to desegregate. A timeline of Navy history incorporates the accomplishments of women and minorities.
While the public spaces are all on the ground floor, a second story provides room for archives. The uniform collection is so large it hasn’t been fully catalogued, but the museum is always happy to accept donations of materials relevant to the Great Lakes story. In particular, boot-camp division photos are being sought. Amazingly, these pictorial records of every division were not routinely saved until the 1960s.
Great Lakes Naval Museum
610 Farragut Ave.
Great Lakes, IL 60888
(847) 688-3154; [email protected]
Open (except federal holidays):
Wed., Thurs., Sat. 1300-1700; Fri. 1100-1700
Admission free
http://www.greatlakesnavalmuseum.org/