IT PAYS TO PRESERVE THE PAST
Heritage tourism is the fastest-growing segment of the industry. And these travelers tend to stay longer and spend more. How well is Illinois doing?

by Jessica Winski

The square brick house in Springfield had fallen into disrepair. Subdivided and riddled with peeling paint, at first the structure seemed worth little more than the $15,000 purchase price. Only later was a cornerstone uncovered that read, "Lincoln Colored Home, Established 1898, Rebuilt 1904." Experts now believe the house may be the first African-American orphanage in the state, perhaps in the country. And the NAACP plans to restore it and is pursuing designation as a national historic site to help protect it from future destruction or development.

That's a familiar story to historical preservation buffs. A property steeped in history goes unnoticed, slipping into decay. "There are lots of places that fall through the cracks," says Ann Swallow, national register coordinator for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. "There are only about 1,250 Illinois listings on the National Register of Historic Places, but there are thousands more that qualify."

The national register is just one tool states use to preserve and promote history. Public-owned sites are another.

But why bother? Experts say history, as we learn in grade school, is the filter through which future generations see us. "It connects us to our past and shows us what we have made of ourselves," says Beth Boland, historian with the National Park Service, the federal agency that administers the national register.

But these days, states are seeing a more immediate payoff in the past.

"Heritage tourism is the fastest growing segment of the industry," says Valecia Crisafulli, coordinator of the Illinois Main Street program for the lieutenant governor's office.

In fact, a recent study by the Travel Industry Association of America ranked Illinois ninth among the 50 states in the number of historic/cultural travelers. And these travelers tend to stay longer and spend more.

Illinois is fortunate. The state has a rich history and an administration willing to pump dollars into preservation. For example, Gov. Jim Edgar, a self-proclaimed history buff, devoted $10.4 million in the new fiscal year budget to a proposed Abraham Lincoln presidential library. The budget also includes the highest amount ever — $17 million — for building and renovating historic sites statewide.

Still, how well is Illinois doing when it comes to preserving and presenting its past? Officials say that while it's difficult to make direct comparisons with other states, Illinois is holding pace, if not leading, in some indicators.

Indeed, history is presented in a variety of ways throughout the state: The public can tour the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Dana-Thomas House in Springfield, or visit parks, museums and libraries. And, collectively, these entities provide a picture of the forces and people that shaped the state.

Undoubtedly, Illinois' national register listings are among the biggest draws. Besides the Dana-Thomas House, the state's listing includes Chicago's Adler Planetarium and the Board of Trade building, as well as the state Capitol in Springfield.

In sheer numbers, Illinois' list, Swallow says, is "par for the course." California, New York and Ohio have earned the most listings, at around 3,000. With some 600 listings, Nebraska is among the states with the lowest number.

"Some states, when first getting going more than 30 years ago, started huge programs where they initiated the listing process," she explains. That was the case in Ohio, which now has 3,396 listings and consistently ranks among the top five states. Kentucky, a much smaller state, has nearly 3,000 national register sites.

Yet such numbers may not represent a true measure of a state's commitment to the past. While Kentucky, for example, has been aggressive about getting national listings, less than 20 percent of that state's historic artifacts, including documents, photographs and paintings, are on display due to lack of space. (Construction of a new $26 million, 167,000-square-foot history center should fix that, says Dave Shuffet of Kentucky's Historical Society, one of four state agencies involved in historic-related activities.)

Illinois is not as active as some of its neighbors in seeking national register listings. Only twice in the last decade

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"Of the surrounding states, Illinois has a better and wider range of historic sites," says Donald Hallmark, who manages the Dana-Thomas House.

Still, says Bob Coomer, who heads the state's historic sites program, "We are short on sites representing agriculture and mining, industries very critical within Illinois." With such sites, he contends, "the state could do a better job helping people understand how Illinois evolved."

Nevertheless, with an inventory of 57 sites, including the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Springfield, Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site near Petersburg and Cahokia Mounds, a prehistoric site in southwestern Illinois, the state far outpaces such neighbors as Wisconsin and Minnesota. Twenty-one of Illinois' sites are staffed and offer public tours and other educational instruction. With approximately three million visitors each year, Coomer says, Illinois is on the "upper end of the spectrum."

Free admission helps. Wisconsin, for example, charges fees at all eight of its sites, and Minnesota at all but three of its 20 sites.

At one time, Illinois toyed with the idea of admission fees. But after implementing charges on a trial basis at certain sites, the decision was made to scrap such fees in favor of suggested donations. "Once we factored in the costs associated for someone to collect the fees and do the accounting, then considered the decrease in attendance, it just wasn't worth it," Coomer says.

Hallmark adds that visitors to Cahokia Mounds would skip the audio-visual presentation, which had a fee, and simply read the display boxes and handouts. "We missed our mission there," he says.

Flush state coffers will help, too. While the state preservation agency's budget took a slight dip, funding of capital development projects for historic sites is at a record high. Already, nearly one-third of all state visitors come to experience the history and culture of the Land of Lincoln. And historic upgrades should help Illinois in its quest to transport even more visitors "a million miles from Monday" and straight to our state.

"Studies have shown we are already highly successful in marketing our heritage destinations," Edgar has said. "But there is significant potential for even more growth. " 

Last month, three fern tables designed by the late architect Frank Lloyd Wright were returned to the state-owned Dana-Thomas House in Springfield. The tables were acquired by the Dana- Thomas House Foundation and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The state has spent more than $5 million to restore the house. And former Gov. James R. Thompson raised a little more than $1 million in private funds to buy some of the original furnishings. In 1987, Thompson traveled to an auction in New York and spent between $300,000 and $400,000 on five major pieces, including an art glass and oak music cabinet. He also was able to work out a deal with the auction house on a rare double pedestal art glass lamp for $704,001. "The Dana-Thomas House remains the only property the state has purchased for its architectural merit," says Donald Hallmark, site manager since the house was purchased in 1981. The sketch was drawn by free-lance architectural artist Joseph F. Hennessy.

Illinois Issues July/August 1998 ¦ 27