The Buchanan Center for the Arts occupies a historic building right on Public Square, and it exists because of one woman’s estate. Grace Buchanan, born Grace Elizabeth Stephenson in Wyoming, Illinois in 1894, settled at Highland Farm on Monmouth’s eastern edge in 1921 and believed arts, music, dance, and theater should be open to everyone. When she died, her memorial trust funded a new nonprofit chartered by the State of Illinois in 1989 to provide arts education and enjoyment across Warren County.
Today the center runs 2,400 square feet of exhibition space for solo and group shows, an artisan gift shop, classes, theater and music performances, and the 64ARTS national juried art competition. It’s also where tickets are sold for the Maple Leaf Community Concert Series. Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; 64 Public Square.