Geneva Illinois West State Street looking east. 1948 postcard.
Famous scholars, artists, and historic figures as far back as Voltaire have attempted to explain the importance of history. Winston Churchill famously stated, “History is written by the victors.” Karl Marx was a little less glib remarking, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Even those who are not fans of history know at least some historical people and events.
But what history is “worth knowing?” The American Revolution, the Black Plague, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the breakup of Pangea are all historic events worth knowing. But what about the people and events that are less known? What about the tool marks left by a man cutting stone at the Batavia quarries, the artistry of leaded glass windows at the Fabyan Villa Museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Geneva, or the necessity of a footbridge for factory workers to cross the Fox River in St. Charles?
This is where historic preservation comes in. Historic buildings and landscapes define the physical spaces where people of the past reveal their activities and values. These spaces and structures tell the stories of the past, provide context for our present, and direction for our future.
There are many seemingly strong arguments made against historic preservation, however. Common arguments we have heard include:
“You can’t tell me what to do with my building!”
“I don’t need another level of bureaucratic oversight.”
“It’s my building. I can do whatever I want with it.”
“I know better what is best for my building.”
“My building isn’t associated with anyone famous so it’s not worth saving.”
“It’s more cost-effective to knock an old building down and replace it.”
“Historic structures aren’t energy efficient.”
“Historic buildings are a maintenance nightmare!”
The flaw in many of these arguments is often short-sightedness. Each of us is a very small portion of our world’s story. What we leave behind remains beyond our mortal lives. Therefore, we are not OWNERS of anything, but rather we are stewards of all that we have. Someone “owned” historic buildings before us, and someone will “own” them after us if we do not destroy them for the next generation. A mindset of stewardship ensures that the stories of the past will continue to be told into the future. Our window of impact on the world is very small—what will that impact be?
Historic preservation in our communities is a sort of insurance policy against the ownership mindset. An “owner” is only concerned about the present. A steward recognizes the past, adjusts for the present, and preserves for the future. A steward makes improvements to their property in keeping with the historic nature and character of the building. A steward embraces historic preservation ordinances because they ensure that our historic structures, our tangible link to our shared heritage, are not lost as our cities grow and change.
So, what do we do to shift from an ownership mindset to a stewardship one? We must educate! We need to change the conversation from individual ownership to stewardship. Talk to your neighbors, friends, children, grandchildren, and strangers about the stories of our past and how stewardship preserves those stories for the future. We need to continue to be vocal about the importance of historic preservation. We need to remind our city officials of the tangible benefits of upholding their historic preservation ordinances.
Historic preservation is important simply because it preserves for the future a record of our past. It goes beyond just you and me, us and them, to transcend generations. It is our insurance policy against the ownership mindset, against the short-sighted nature of humanity. What will our legacy be? What will we leave for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Historic preservation provides us with the means to leave something very special, something irreplaceable, for the future. Historic preservation allows us to preserve our very identity for future generations to understand, learn from, and build upon.
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