2018 Springfield Preservation Awards

Justin Blandford, Mansion Curator, addresses the crowd at the 2018 Springfield Preservation Awards, hosted by the Illinois REALTORS® and presented by the Springfield Business Journal and the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln.

The Illinois REALTORS® recently hosted the 2018 Springfield Preservation Awards, presented by the Springfield Business Journal and the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln.

The program was well attended by elected officials, city and nonprofit leaders, and members of the Capital Area REALTORS® (CAR). CAR was mentioned in the speech by Betsy Dollar, Executive Director of the Springfield Area Art Association, who received the award for Edwards Place in the category “Preservation Effort by a Not-for-Profit Organization.”

CAR selected Edwards Place as its Bicentennial legacy project, raising $14,000 for restoration of its staircase to the second floor. The Edwards home was built in 1833 and is considered the oldest residence in Springfield still on its original foundation.

Also among the winners was our neighbor, the Illinois Governor’s Mansion Association, in the category of “Private Effort for the Preservation of an Historic Structure.”

The Governor’s Mansion reopened July 14, 2018, after undergoing a full restoration led by First Lady Diana Rauner, who raised $15 million from private donors for this signature project of the Illinois Bicentennial. The “People’s House,” in addition to functioning as a private residence for the sitting Governor, is now a professionally operated museum that is open for daily guided from 1 to 4 p.m. and is ADA-accessible for the first time in the home’s 163-year history.

Accepting the award was Mansion Curator Justin Blandford, who served on the team of local historians who helped shape the stories told on the 16 interpretive panels along the pedestrian walkway at Bicentennial Plaza, a REALTOR Community Partnership.

In his remarks, Blandford mentioned the plaza and its panel that tells the story of the historic visit of Frederick Douglass to the Governor’s Mansion in 1872.

According to a local newspaper report, Douglass “was not only cordially received by Gov. Palmer, but was introduced by him to many of the senators and representatives and other prominent gentlemen who were present.”

This is notable because, according to historians Palmer (1817-1900) “did not believe the races to be truly equal, but he declared himself in favor of the ballot for African American men and said all were equal under law.”

On the Governor’s Mansion guided tours, this story of Palmer and Douglass is told in the room where it happened.

Learn more about the 2018 Preservation Awards in the Springfield Business Journal.