Journal Reporter

The Des Plaines Theater and the Methodist Campground in Des Plaines are under consideration for placement on the National Registry of Historic Places, and preservationists from the two locations say they are fighting for their survival. Both sites have been threatened with demolition in the past several years.

However, the only protection the registry can award is merely the prestige of placement on the Washington registry.

Registered historic places are always subject to the whim of property owners and local governments, said National Registry Historian Paul Lusignan.

"For the most part, it's an honorary program," Lusignan said. "It can help turn people's minds around."

The state of Illinois offers tax incentive and real estate assessment programs to encourage the rehabilitation of privately-owned historic sites, but aside from sites with human remains, the state cannot offer protection either.

"A private owner can do whatever they please, provided they are not getting a government grant to do it," said Ted Hild, the deputy state historic preservation officer of the Illinois State Preservation Society.

To indefinitely save a property, an owner could sign a covenant promising to keep the site intact throughout the life of ownership, and pass the covenant on to future owners. The owner could also assign development rights to a third party, such as the state's Landmark Preservation organization.

The property would remain at the mercy of local governments, however, and any further assurance would require a local preservation ordinance.

"There are 90 local preservation ordinances in Illinois, and some are more rigorous in their enforcement than others," said Hild. "In practice it appears that local preservation ordinances are best able to provide protection."

Even then, the federal government could bulldoze the property for a highway project.

"In the end, they may find no feasible alternative, but at least preservation would be considered," Lusignan said.

Lusignan said sites are routinely removed from the National Registry due to natural causes or an owner's demolition.

"It's fairly uncommon, but it does happen in last minute case," he said.

Ultimately, the preservationists' applications for recognition from the nation's capitol are an appeal to the people that wield the most power to affect historic preservation -- the local residents of Des Plaines.