The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is tasked with the duty of maintaining most State-owned historic sites within its borders, as well as the State's history library, and maximizing their educational and recreational value to visitors or on-line users. In addition, it manages the process for applications within the state for additions to the National Register of Historic Places.
Amy Martin is the current Director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) was created by State law in July 1985. The agency's oldest bureau, the Illinois State Historical Library, was created in 1889, but the origins of the agency could be said to date back to the creation of Lincoln's Tomb for the burial of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, in 1865.
During the 20th century, the state of Illinois acquired and restored a wide variety of historic properties throughout the state. One key asset, Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site in Menard County, a reconstruction of a village where Abraham Lincoln lived in the 1830s, was established in the 1930s. The agency also administers the Cahokia World Heritage Site which includes the largest pre-columbian construction in the Americas north of Mexico.
The IHPA continued to grow after its creation in 1985, largely because of continued public interest in Lincoln as the bicentennial of his birth approached in 2009. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, also in Springfield, Illinois, was dedicated in 2005. Unlike most presidential libraries, the Lincoln Library is state-owned.
The proposed 2016 budget of Governor Bruce Rauner would eliminate the agency, assigning its duties to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Opponents of the move claim that the Commerce Department has neither the expertise nor the interest to carry out the agency's functions and that any savings from the agency's 2015 budget of $15 million would be minimal.
The following is an alphabetical listing of the more than 50 Illinois State Historic Sites that are under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency:
Albany Mounds State Historic Site, Whiteside County
Apple River Fort State Historic Site, Jo Daviess County
Bishop Hill State Historic Site, Henry County
Black Hawk State Historic Site, Rock Island County
Bryant Cottage State Historic Site, Piatt County
Buel House, Pope County
Cahokia Courthouse State Historic Site, St. Clair County
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Madison County and St. Clair County
Campbell's Island State Memorial, Rock Island County
Carl Sandburg State Historic Site, Knox County
Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site, Sangamon County
David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, McLean County
Douglas Tomb State Historic Site, Cook County
Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, Randolph County
Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site, Randolph County
Governor Bond State Memorial, Randolph County
Governor Coles State Memorial, Madison County
Governor Horner State Memorial, Cook County
Grand Village of the Illinois, LaSalle County (not open to the public)
Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Sangamon County
Jarrot Mansion State Historic Site, St. Clair County
Jubilee College State Historic Site, Peoria County
Kaskaskia Bell State Memorial, Randolph County
Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site, Massac County
Lewis and Clark State Historic Site, Madison County
Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site, Sangamon County
Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site, Coles County
Lincoln Monument, Lee County
Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, Sangamon County
Lincoln Trail State Memorial, Lawrence County
Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, Menard County
Lovejoy State Memorial, Madison County
Martin-Boismenue House, St. Clair County
Metamora Courthouse State Historic Site, Woodford County
Mount Pulaski Courthouse State Historic Site, Logan County
Norwegian Settlers Memorial, La Salle County
Old Market House State Historic Site, Jo Daviess County
Old State Capitol State Historic Site, Sangamon County
Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site, Randolph County
Postville Courthouse State Historic Site, Logan County
Pullman Site, including:
Hotel Florence, Cook County
Rose Hotel, Hardin County
Shawneetown Bank State Historic Site, Gallatin County
U.S. Grant Home State Historic Site, Jo Daviess County
Vachel Lindsay Home, Sangamon County
Vandalia State House State Historic Site, Fayette County
Washburne House State Historic Site, Jo Daviess County
Wild Bill Hickok Memorial, LaSalle County
World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial, Sangamon County
In addition to those above administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, other historic sites operated by Illinois state agencies include:
Dickson Mounds, operated by Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)
Fort Massac State Park, operated by IDNR
Starved Rock State Park, operated by IDNR
