By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROSCOE — Historic Auto Attractions opened for the season on Monday, debuting a new western frontier exhibit that was built with pieces from the former Forest Hills Lodge at Rockford Speedway.
The automotive museum, 13825 Metric Road, purchased the lodge’s facade and scaled it down to fit its new Wild West Town.
“It is such a perfect fit,” said Alex Merry, museum director. “Everyone from the area is going to remember it. … Now that we have a piece of that in our Wild West Town, in one of the biggest focuses in the museum, it’s incredible.”
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Museum owner Wayne Lensing, who has a long history in racing including time owning the Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin, has been a friend to the Deery family that owned the Rockford Speedway for years. Members of the Deery family said they’re glad to see part of the Speedway live on at the museum.
The Speedway held its 76th and final season last year. The property is to be developed into a mix of businesses and other commercial uses.
Merry said the new wild west exhibit is one of several changes to the museum this year.
“The moment you walk through the door you’re going to see big changes,” she said. “You’re going to start walking around exhibits that you’ve never been able to walk around or get up close to artifacts that you’ve never been able to before.”
Lensing opened the museum in 2001, and after years of growing his collection more space was added in 2020 to bring the total museum grounds up to about 86,000 square feet.
Merry said the museum carries something for everyone with more than 20 different exhibit focuses, including one of the largest John F. Kennedy Jr. collections, a hall of presidents and classic vehicles from movies such as “Batman,” “Back to the Future” and “Ghostbusters,” to name a few.
“We’re looking at 86,000 square feet of pure history and passion for one man’s love of history,” Merry said.
About | Historic Auto Attractions
Where: 13825 Metric Road, Roscoe
On the web: historicautoattractions.com
On social: Facebook @Historicautoattractions
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas