Champaign Central High School On Preservation Group’s Endangered Building List
The entrance to Champaign Central High School, which Landmarks Illinois says is in danger of being destroyed, under expansion plans being considered by the Unit Four school district. Landmarks Illinois
Champaign Central High School and other nearby neighborhood properties are on this year's list of endangered historic sites from the group Landmarks Illinois.
The group’s President, Bonnie McDonald, says they oppose plans being considered by the Unit Four school district.
Those plans include either partially tearing down the 1935 Champaign Central high school building ... or completely demolishing the school and several neighborhood buildings.
McDonald says those buildings “represent important threads in the historic fabric of the city.”
One of the threatened buildings is the Albert and Julia Burnham Home, built in 1884 at the corner of Church and Lynn Streets.
Other sites on Landmarks Illinois' annual endangered buildings list include the Massac County Courthouse in Metropolis, historic neighborhood schools in Highland Park and Rockford and the Cornell Store and Flats Building in Chicago.
Landmarks Illinois advocates protecting state historical sites. The group is working with legislators to establish a rehabilitation and revitalization tax credit, and to extend a current tax credit.
Landmarks Illinois has identified more than 200 endangered historic sites since it first started listing them in 1995. The group says they've managed to save about a third of those and are working to save more.