News Release

National Park Service awards over $9.6 million in grants to support preservation in rural communities

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will receive a Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant to support rehabilitation of historic buildings in places like Covington, Virginia in the Appalachian region of the state.

Michaael Pulice

News Release Date: August 10, 2023

Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service (NPS) announced nearly $9.7 million in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants to 13 subgrant programs in 12 states today to support economic development through the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country.

These grants mark the fifth year of funding for the program honoring the late Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont for nearly 40 years. State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, Certified Local Governments, and nonprofits were eligible to apply for funding to create a subgrant program to fund multiple preservation projects in their rural jurisdictions.

“This National Park Service program is helping rural communities strengthen their economies through historic preservation,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “The subgrant programs being carried out at the local level are supporting improvements to historic buildings and fostering economic development across the country.”

Grants awarded in this round will allow state and local governments and nonprofit organizations to develop subgrant programs and select individual projects in their rural communities for physical preservation projects that will contribute to economic vitality.

Some projects from this year’s grants include:

• Montana – The Red Lodge Area Community Foundation will provide subgrants to renew community anchors in a flood-ravaged, historic community that serves as a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.

• New York – The Erie Canalway National Heritage Area will provide subgrants for physical preservation of historic properties located in rural communities adjacent to the Mohawk River/New York State Barge Canal System in central New York.

• Virginia - The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will provide subgrants to public and nonprofit-owned buildings in 25 rural counties in the Appalachian region of the state.

Congress appropriates funding for the program through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF, authorized through 2023, uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, providing assistance for a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. 

For more information about the grants and the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants program, please visit nps.gov. Congress has appropriated $12.5 million for FY23 funding with applications planned to be available in the fall of 2023.

Awards:

Location	Project	Grantee	Award
Georgia	Downtown Thomson Revitalization Program	McDuffie County Board of Commissioners	$      700,000
Iowa	Muscatine Downtown Historic Revitalization Project	City of Muscatine	$      747,148
Kansas	Kansas Rural Main Street Subgrants	Kansas State Historical Society	$      750,000
Massachusetts	Preservation Works in Western Mass	Pioneer Valley Regional Ventures Center	$      750,000
Missouri	Rural Missouri Main Street Subgrants	Missouri Main Street Connection, Inc.	$      748,752
Montana	Post Flood Historic and Economic Revitalization of Red Lodge and Carbon County	Red Lodge Area Community Foundation	$      747,564
New York	Mohawk Valley Historic Rural Revitalization Grant Program	Erie Canalway Heritage Fund, Inc.	$      750,000
Oklahoma	Muskogee Historic Revitalization Grant Program	Neighbors Building Neighborhoods of Muskogee, Inc.	$      750,000
South Carolina	Stabilization of Commercial Historic District buildings	Dillon Community Alliance	$      750,000
Virginia	Appalachian Virginia Revitalization Subgrant Program	Virginia Department of Historic Resources	$      750,000
Vermont	Downtown and Village Revitalization Grant Program – Round 5	Preservation Trust of Vermont	$      750,000
West Virginia	Fund for Historic Schools	Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, Inc.	$      750,000
West Virginia	Wheeling Revitalization Subgrant Program	Wheeling National Heritage Corporation	$      750,000
12 States		Total	$    9,693,464

www.nps.gov
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