Landmarks Illinois has acquired Illinois Main Street, bringing the statewide downtown revitalization network under a permanent home focused on historic preservation and community development.
Jacksonville Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe says the move could provide much-needed stability after years of changes in state oversight. She says the statewide program has repeatedly been moved between agencies or eliminated, leaving local organizations to rely on one another for support: “I’ve been with Jacksonville Main Street for 25 years now. And in that amount of time I’ve seen the program literally be eliminated from everything to do with the State of Illinois at least five times. We’ve had eight different statewide Main Street directors, and just as many times that we’ve had to work with the state or whatever agency decides it is a good program and it’s worth investing in. And in terms of the state budget, they never spent that much money on it. But the reward and the return statewide was always magnificent, which is why they kept trying to bring it back. But then things would happen and [with the program being] low man on the pole, you get cut from the budget or just eliminated when a department is eliminated. So we look for this to be a much more stable environment.”
Tighe says the statewide network has helped Jacksonville develop projects including its downtown mural initiative and concert series by sharing ideas, training and technical assistance.
She also says the acquisition is a natural fit as Jacksonville Main Street increasingly focuses on preserving the historic character of the downtown square now that renovations have mostly been completed over the last 25 years: “Landmarks Illinois has actually been going through their own transformational strategy redevelopment and the way that they look at all the different things to preserve. So it’s not just buildings that they look to preserve, it’s important places. So many of us have a place that is meaningful in terms of our culture or our own history and to preserve that actual place, even if an actual building isn’t there. And the [Jacksonville] square is a great example of that. It changes and transforms over time and holds new meaning for different people going forward through the ages, but that place in and of itself, we’ve got to keep it there. It’s crucial. It’s a really big part of Jacksonville’s history and heart. It’s their past, but in many respects, it’s also its future. And so Landmarks kind of looks at preservation through that lens.”
Landmarks Illinois says it will administer existing Illinois Main Street operations and programming, continuing support for communities and organizations across the state.
The first step is onboarding a new director, according to Quinn Adamowski with Landmarks Illinois explains what the program’s work entails now: “Economic development, downtown revitalization, repairing commercial buildings and corridors is a core component of historic preservation. And Illinois Main Street, the Main Street model in general, provides a roadmap for communities to be able to do that, right? To develop a plan, to identify your assets, to work with community members. It’s really a preservation-based economic development program for downtowns across Illinois and across the country. And so that’s one of our four key priorities as an organization, is to promote economic development in communities by reusing our historic resources. And so Illinois Main Street is the perfect model to marry preservation and economic development. The program’s been around for more than 40 years and has been highly successful all across the country, including here in Illinois.”
For more information on Landmarks Illinois and the Illinois Main Street acquisition, visit landmarks.org for contact information and details.