Landmarks Illinois has announced its latest round of grant recipients through the organization’s Preservation Heritage Fund and the Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation grant programs — and Aurora is one of the recipients.

Aurora will receive $5,000 for the iconic monument on the New York Street Bridge. Constructed in 1931 and spanning the Fox River, the bridge is dedicated as a tribute to the brave soldiers who fought in World War I.

The bridge features six ornamental elements — four hooded “Memory” sculptures, a statue celebrating “Victory,” and the Branches of Service Plaque, a large bronze relief representing the three branches of the armed services at the time of WWI.

At the center of the bridge there are two outlooks with bronze and limestone memorials. On the north side stands a 12-foot bronze statue of the Messenger Goddess Victory on top of a 10-foot limestone base. Aurora will use the LI grant funding to restore the Victory statue.

Previously, the city of Aurora used another WWI Monument Preservation grant to restore one of the Memory sculptures and it has restored the Branches of Service Plaque on the south side of the bridge as part of an overall restoration of the memorial bridge.

(CREDIT: Landmarks Illinois)

Other Area Preservation Awards

(CREDIT: Landmarks Illinois)

Five grants totaling $10,000 have been awarded through the Preservation Heritage Fund, and five grants amounting to $31,900 were awarded through LI’s WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program. Individual grant amounts range from $1,500 to $10,000 each.

All are matching grants, which requires the recipient to raise funds equal or greater to the Landmarks Illinois grant amount.

The recent recipients of the Landmarks Illinois Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program are below. You can read more about each project at the Landmarks Illinois website.

• Lincoln Central Association: $2,000 to hire a consultant to prepare a landmark designation for the Halsted-Willow Gateway in Chicago.
• Society of Architectural Historians: $2,000 to tuckpoint and repair four original chimneys of the Charnley Persky House in Chicago.
• Tri-Taylor Community Association: $1,500 to hire a consultant to prepare a landmark designation for the Claremont Cottages in Chicago.
• Historic Marbold Farmstead Association: $2,000 to install a gutter system to the north annex, carriage house, smokehouse and wash house in Greenview.
• Springdale Historic Preservation Foundation: $2,500 to restore the 1866 Union Civil War Monument in Peoria.

(CREDIT: Landmarks Illinois)

The Landmarks Illinois Preservation Heritage Fund Grant Program was created in 2004 and provides funding to projects focusing on engineering, architectural and feasibility studies, stabilization, legal services, survey and National Register Nominations as well as preservation ordinance support. Preservation Heritage Fund grants are awarded four times a year.

The recent recipients of a Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation grant are below. You can read more about each project at the Landmarks Illinois website.

• City of Aurora: $5,000 to restore the Victory Statue on the New York Memorial Bridge in Aurora.
• Blue Island Park District: $4,400 to restore the Studebaker Field Gun in Blue Island.
• Bronzeville Community Development Partnership: $7,500 to create a memorial garden and to restore the Flags Mount Area of the George L. Giles Post #87 in Chicago.
• Dan Ryan Woods Gold Star Mothers Memorial NFP: $10,000 to restore the Gold Star Mothers Memorial in Chicago.
• First United Methodist Church of Oak Park: $5,000 to restore the entry doors of the Memorial Tower in Oak Park.

Before And After

(CREDIT: Landmarks Illinois)

The Landmarks Illinois WWI Monument Preservation Grant Program is a limited-time grant program offered in 2017 and 2018 to help restore WWI outdoor monuments and memorials in Illinois. This was the final round of grant recipients awarded through the grant program. Funding for the grant program has been made possible with generous support from the Pritzker Military Foundation.

Visit www.Landmarks.org to learn more about grant programs and eligible projects. You can also download the report, “No Small Change: The Grant Programs of Landmarks Illinois,” to see how Landmarks Illinois grants have positively impacted communities throughout the state.

SOURCE: Landmarks Illinois news release