State historic sites return to five-day-per-week schedule after Labor Day

[SEPT. 1, 2006]  SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois' state historic sites operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency will return to a five-day-per-week schedule the first full week of September. Most sites are open on Labor Day, but most will be closed on Tuesday as the new schedule takes effect.

Many sites have been open daily during the 2006 summer tourist season as a result of a budget initiative by Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, and these sites will resume that same seven-day-per-week schedule in the spring of 2007. Nearly three-quarters of the people who visit Illinois' historic sites come between spring and Labor Day.

Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford will remain open seven days per week through September 2006 to accommodate Lewis and Clark Bicentennial events. Lincoln Tomb, the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield will remain open seven days per week year-round.

The following state-operated historic sites have been open daily this summer and will return to a five-day-per-week schedule beginning Sept. 5: Apple River Fort, Elizabeth; Black Hawk, Rock Island; Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville; Lincoln Log Cabin, near Charleston; Lincoln's New Salem, Petersburg; Old State Capitol and Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, Springfield; Bishop Hill; Bryant Cottage, Bement; Cahokia Courthouse, Cahokia; Carl Sandburg Birthplace, Galesburg; Douglas Tomb, Chicago; Fort de Chartres, Prairie du Rocher; Fort Kaskaskia, Ellis Grove; Jubilee College, Brimfield; Pierre Menard Home, Ellis Grove; Ulysses S. Grant Home, Galena; and Vandalia Statehouse, Vandalia.

The following state historic sites are open five days per week year-round: Dana-Thomas House, Springfield; David Davis Mansion, Bloomington; Metamora Courthouse; Mount Pulaski Courthouse; Old Market House, Galena; Postville Courthouse, Lincoln; and Vachel Lindsay Home, Springfield.

For more detailed information about state historic site schedules, visit www.illinois-history.gov.

An additional $500,000 appropriated to the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency during fiscal 2006 allowed the agency to hire seasonal workers to open the sites an extra two days per week. A similar appropriation for the current fiscal year will allow the same schedule extension in 2007.

[Illinois Historic Preservation Agency news release]