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State Sen: ‘Caved in' roof at IL historic site shows need for repairs

[March 04, 2025] By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says it’s going to take $19 million to restore Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site in Petersburg.

State Sen. Steve McClure’s Senate Bill 1496 appropriates $5 million to site improvements. McClure’s Senate Bill 1417 would set up the New Salem Preservation Commission to determine the true renovation cost.

“We just put a rough estimate in there from what we'd seen. IDNR would be more knowledgeable about the entire property, what they think things would cost,” said McClure, R-Springfield. “So if the number is $19 million, that's what we're going to ask for. As far as laying out exactly where the $19 million comes from, I don't have the answer to that. Certainly the commission could look into that. Our hope, to be honest, would be that we get funding in the budget. Let's say it's $19 million, once it's in, we still have this commission every year to maintain the property.”

During a news conference last week in Springfield, New Salem Lincoln League President Gina Wolter was asked about the number of visitors.

“Vistorship, years ago when it was considered a premier historic site in the state of Illinois, was in excess of 400,000 a year,” said Wolter. “I have no idea what it is now. I would not believe it is nearly that number. What I am hearing from people in the community is that they are embarrassed to take their guests to New Salem.”

McClure said the site might be the “most important” when asked about other sites around the state needing similar renovations.

IDNR awarded a Chicago-based construction company, Premier Contractors, Inc., nearly half a million dollars in 2021 to replace a roof at the Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. The Capital Development Board’s database shows $447,000 of taxpayer funds went toward a roof replacement.

But of the several other buildings on the historic location, McClure said one roof is “caved in.”

McClure, alongside an actor dressed as president Abraham Lincoln, said the site is where Lincoln began his political career.

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Snow at Lincoln's New Salem Historic Site in Petersburg, Illinois - Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site | Facebook

“It is a place that this state should be showcasing and our students should be learning from,” said McClure. “Unfortunately, New Salem is in a state of disrepair. It seems like every few weeks a new roof has caved in, a new structure is in trouble. This has been unacceptable. This hasn’t just happened in the last few weeks, days or months. This has happened over the course of years. It’s time for all of us to get together as a state and save New Salem.”

State Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville, who served as the IDNR director from 2015 to 2019, would carry the bill in the House.

“Twenty plus years ago, between the historic sites and IDNR, we had 3,000 employees. Currently they have 1,246. New Salem itself had 25 people and currently they have eight. The funding has continued to deteriorate from 2002 when [Gov. Rod] Blagojevich was there, every year through the current year,” said Rosenthal. “So, when people say, ‘we need to do these repairs,’ well, that's just normal maintenance. And I explained to some of our legislators that normal maintenance becomes deferred maintenance, when you don't have the resources to pay for it, or the people to do the work. And deferred maintenance becomes deterioration when you don't address it at all. That's where we are with New Salem now is that we are in the deterioration phase.”

McClure and Rosenthal’s top donors are the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC, according to the Reform for Illinois database.

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