Birck Family Innovation Gateway

A State-of-the-Art Welcome Center and Digital Exhibition Space

The Birck Family Innovation Gateway will be the new “front door” to the Naper Settlement experience. This 4,800 square foot visitor welcome and education center is designed to orient and engage guests while expanding the museum’s content to represent Naperville in the 20th and 21st centuries and place its local history in context with state and national narratives. We’ll shake up history the minute you walk in the door. 

The center will include a 23’ X 10’ indoor-outdoor digital wall exhibit that will engage visitors to self-curate their own history journey, redefining the Naper Settlement learning experience. It will be a repository for stories, files, and photos and will allow visitors to upload their own stories through a crowd-sourced mechanism for public and self-curated experiences. 

Beyond the exhibit, the Birck Family Innovation Gateway will also serve as important flex space for Naper Settlement’s 132,000 annual visitors, including 35,000 school children. The welcome center will allow us to expand our current programming, including teacher professional development programs, workshops, and corporate training offerings while providing an improved site entrance that is accessible for people of all abilities. Additionally, the Birck Family Innovation Gateway will provide mobile ticketing kiosks, a student lunchroom, and indoor rental space for meetings, lectures, and receptions.

We look forward to this beautiful, accessible new entrance to our 13-acre site and invite you to join us in making it a reality.  

For more information on the Birck Family Innovation Gateway giving opportunities, please contact Naper Settlement's Director of Development, Juliana Nelligan at nelliganj@naperville.il.us or call 630-305-5253.