America's Most Endangered Historic Places | National Trust for Historic Preservation

Philadelphia Chinatown, Pennsylvania | Terry Robinson/Flickr — 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

Since 1988, the National Trust has used its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places to raise awareness about the threats facing some of the nation's greatest treasures. Now in its 36th year, the annual list has identified more than 350 sites to date, and it has proven so successful in galvanizing preservation efforts that only a handful of sites have been lost.

The diversity of sites on this year’s list mirrors the diversity of the American experience, part of the National Trust’s continued commitment to telling the full American story. What’s more, the stories behind these places illustrate the complexities and challenges that have always been part of what it means to be American, but that have not always received the attention they deserve.

One thread running through the 2023 list is the power of multicultural communities to use their distinct identities and histories to directly combat cultural erasure—the gradual disappearance of community landmarks that help tell the story of those who’ve called a place home, along with the loss of treasured local businesses, restaurants, customs, and traditions. By rallying around the places that symbolize their history and stories, neighborhoods and communities are fighting overdevelopment, displacement, gentrification, and other threats, finding empowerment in their unique pasts.

Just as the tireless work of the National Trust, its partners, and local preservationists across the country have saved dozens of previously listed sites and set many more on a path to a positive solution, so now can we work together on behalf of these endangered places. Join us in our efforts to save America's historic sites.