Illinois historic preservation group awards $17K in grants

CHICAGO (AP) - A historic preservaton group is giving out $17,000 in grants to projects across Illinois, including restoration of a 1920s era post office and a virtual reality experience at a site that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Landmarks Illinois announed the New Philadelphia Association in Pike County will receive a $3,500 matching grant to use toward its virtual reality program. The New Philadelphia historic site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, honors the first town platted and registered by a Black man before the Civil War. Frank McWorter platted the property in 1836 and sold lots in the town to purchase children and grandchildren who were still enslaved in Kentucky.

Other grant recipients include the Morgan County Historical Society, which is receiving $2,500 for window restoration at the Old Post Office in Jacksonville. The building, which served as the main post office for 50 years, is being restored to become home to the Jacksonville Area Museum.

The Wood Dale Historical Society is getting $2,500 to repair the roof of the Rosenwinkel Barn, a wooden peg barn that is the oldest structure in DuPage County. Blackwell-Israel Samuel A.M.E. Zion Church in Chicago, the city of Lockport and Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley in St. Charles also received grants.