SPRINGFIELD – Illinois state parks saw more visitors in 2024 than any point in the past 15 years, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Illinois’ 290 state parks and 56 historic sites recorded more than 41 million visitors last year, which was the most in 15 years, following several significant capital projects to upgrade and improve many of the parks.
Interest in state parks has been growing since the pandemic, IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie said in an interview.
“During COVID, people were stir crazy, shut in, and they once again realized how important nature is to all of us,” Phelps Finnie said.
An aggressive advertising campaign by the state has also helped, she said. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity launched the state’s “Middle of Everything” marketing campaign in 2022, which promotes tourism at the state’s top recreation and cultural attractions in TV commercials, billboards and online advertising.
Starved Rock State Park in LaSalle County topped the list in 2024 with 2.4 million visitors coming to explore the canyons and waterfalls nestled in gorges along the Illinois River in north-central Illinois.
Read more: State completes project preserving its only undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline
The second-most visited park last year was Illinois Beach State Park, near Zion, with 2 million visitors. IDNR completed a major $73 million project last year to preserve the park from erosion.
“It’s always been a high number of visitors, but certainly the uptick we’ve seen since the beach was restored and since the resort is being invested in once again and remodeled,” Phelps Finnie said.
Beach State Park holds Illinois' only undeveloped stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline, but it’s subject to the ferocious waves of the lake. The conditions have sometimes eroded up to 100 feet of shoreline a year in parts of the park.
To preserve the park’s shoreline, IDNR’s project included building 22 breakwater structures in the lake to decrease the power of the waves hitting the shore. Several of the structures are entirely submerged while others that poke out the surface of the lake are designed to provide nesting for migratory birds.
The project also included extending the public beach further into Lake Michigan. Erosion had diminished the beach to come within feet of the parking lot and hotel at the park.
The state also announced earlier this year it will put $60 million toward deferred maintenance projects. More than half of that will go to Starved Rock for trail improvements, facility renovations and building a new wastewater system.
The department is also working on adding electric vehicle chargers at state parks and renovating the Old State Capitol in Springfield.
This summer, IDNR plans to restore and upgrade the Crenshaw House in Gallatin County to include a visitor center at a location on the reverse underground railroad, where slaves were held. According to IDNR, John Crenshaw used slaves at his southern Illinois home where he manufactured salt. Crenshaw is also believed to have kidnapped freed or escaped slaves to sell them back to slavery in the South.
“We’re excited that the investment is being made and these parks are getting the attention they deserve,” Phelps Finnie said.
Read more: Illinois commits $8M to repair deteriorating site where Lincoln launched political career
Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site in Peterburg, where the 16th president lived in his 20s, was the state’s most visited historic site last year with 360,000 visitors. The site is in line for funding to repair aging buildings.
IDNR announced in March it will invest $8 million to repair up to 23 replica log buildings at the site that depict how the village looked when Lincoln lived there in the 1830s.
"You have things fall into disrepair and then it dominoes,” Phelps Finnie said. “It builds. So what was once maybe $100 million or so is now a little over $1 billion worth of deferred maintenance” across IDNR’s properties.
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