Dillinger Museum to open March 3 in Lake County

John Dillinger was an infamous gangster and bank robber during the Great Depression, and was known as "Jackrabbit" and "Public Enemy No. 1."

CROWN POINT (AP) -- A sneak-peak at the new Dillinger Museum location in the historic Lake County Courthouse and a fundraiser will mark the March 3 anniversary of the notorious bank robber's escape from the Lake County Jail 81 years ago.

Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority (SSCVA), said only one of three zones of the new museum -- the part depicting the demise of John Dillinger at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago and his subsequent burial -- will be ready for viewing at the event.

"It's the end of his life. The crime-doesn't-pay part," Batistatos said. "That has the biggest pieces in our collection."

Work on the other two zones of the 2,100-square-foot museum will be put out to bid and is expected to be complete by early summer when the museum will open to the public.

Initially, the bureau had hoped the entire museum would be ready in time for the March 3 anniversary, but getting the design right caused a delay.

Batistatos said he has been working with Group Delphi of Fort Wayne, the firm that designed the original museum at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond 15 years ago, to design the new space. The visitors authority board has budgeted $290,000 for the work.

Plans call for reusing many of the existing popular exhibits and incorporating new exhibits from the vast collection of Dillinger memorabilia that has never been on display.

"When we got the first look, it was not what we wanted so it was back to the drawing board. They came back with an outstanding design," Batistatos said.

The SSCVA received its building permit from the citylast week and staff will begin readying the zone three space and moving the exhibits from the Welcome Center to their new home in order to be ready for the sneak peek event.

One exhibit that will not make the trip is the 1933 Essex Terraplane like the one John Dillinger drove. The car was featured in the movie "Public Enemy." It will be auctioned in March.

On Oct. 23, 1933, Dillinger and his gang made their biggest score ever, robbing Central National Bank in Greencastle on the south side of the courthouse square of $75,000 in cash and negotiable bonds.