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Each year, the list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places shines a light on the threats facing significant sites of American history. It continues to be a powerful, galvanizing tool for historic preservation, with over 350 sites listed and only a handful lost.

On this year’s list are the Century and Consumers Buildings in Chicago, Illinois. As two iconic early skyscrapers along Chicago’s historic State Street, the Century and Consumers Buildings contribute to the architectural significance of the area known as “the Loop.”

Yet they have sat vacant since the General Services Administration (GSA) bought them in 2005 and are now being considered for demolition. Advocates are urging reuse options that could meet security needs of the adjacent federal courthouse while avoiding the buildings’ wasteful demolition.

To save these iconic pieces of architecture, contact the GSA to ask them not to demolish these significant buildings.

On March 28, 2023, the Detroit Land Bank approved the sale of the Sarah E. Ray House to Detroit business leader Shannon Steel. It has been a long journey for the Sarah E. Ray Project, but now the site is in the hands of someone who embraces the significance of the property and wishes to honor Sarah Ray's legacy.

Sarah Elizabeth Ray was a remarkably influential Civil Rights activist though her story has largely been untold. A decade before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, 24-year-old Ray filed a successful discrimination case after the SS Columbia, a steamboat that carried passengers to Detroit's Bob-Lo Island Amusement Park, removed her from the vessel on the basis of race.

The 1948 case reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was decided in Ray’s favor, becoming an important precursor to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which struck down the doctrine of separate but equal educational facilities in 1954.

Ray’s Civil Rights work in Detroit continued over her lifetime. She and her husband opened Action House, a community center to promote racial tolerance and enrich the lives of local children, and she lived in the house next door until her death in 2006.

While the Action House was eventually demolished, Ray’s home remains. It has sat vacant and deteriorating, but now has a bright future.

The new owner, Shannon Steel, plans to turn the home into a museum and the adjoining lot into a community garden dedicated to Ray’s memory.

The Sarah. E. Ray House was included on the National Trust's list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2021.

Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome, Idaho, is a site of conscience where 13,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.

In 1942, the U.S. government violated the constitutional rights of 13,000 Japanese Americans when it forcibly removed them from Western U.S. states to remote south-central Idaho. Living in harsh and cramped conditions, surrounded by barbed wire, and guarded by military police, families attempted to lead daily lives that were as normal as possible.

Minidoka’s sweeping vistas and distant mountains continue to convey the isolation and remoteness that Japanese Americans experienced there. However, a wind project has been proposed next to Minidoka National Historic Site, potentially placing wind turbines within the historic footprint of the Minidoka camp.

If constructed as currently planned, the project could irrevocably change Minidoka’s landscape, potentially creating a visual wall of hundreds of wind towers, each taller than the Seattle Space Needle, with blades exceeding the wingspan of a Boeing 747. For this reason, Minidoka was listed on the National Trust’s America's 11 Most Endangered Places in 2022.

Public advocacy by supporters like you can make a difference, and Minidoka needs your voice now more than ever.

Sign your name to join the National Trust, Friends of Minidoka, and other partners in urging the Bureau of Land Management to suspend its review of the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project and instead engage in a public process to revise the Monument Resource Management Plan, in order to protect Minidoka and provide a more holistic approach to manage federal lands.

As a final step in a massive four-year preservation and legal battle to protect Native American sacred ground, the James River Water Authority (JRWA) has voted to choose an alternate site for its water supply project, protecting the sanctity of Rassawek, the historic capital of the Monacan Indian Nation and an important ancestral burying ground.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has been one of the key advocates in the struggle to save Rassawek, participating in federal review processes and advocacy campaigns to preserve this historic site, as well as placing Rassawek on the 2020 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

After a hard-fought legal battle and massive public response in support of saving Rassawek, the JRWA changed course and worked with the Monacan Indian Nation to study a potential alternative site for the pumping station, and on March 16, they voted to move the plant to an alternate location. They also have agreed to facilitate transfer of the JRWA’s parcel at Rassawek to the Monacan Tribe.

This marks a victory for the Monacan people and for all Tribal Nations striving to protect their sacred lands, and we support the precedent that the JRWA has set in working with the Monacan leadership to make this important decision.

In moments like this, we celebrate who we were in the past, who we are today, and who we hope to become in the future. Congratulations to the Monacan Indian Nation and our preservation partners in Virginia for helping to protect and tell the full American story.