Racine Historic Preservation Plan

In many legacy cities across the country – places of past industrial innovation experiencing significant economic change – historic preservation has played an indispensable role in shaping and maintaining the visual character, social fabric and resiliency of older neighborhoods and traditional commercial districts. In that spirit, the City of Racine, Wisconsin, worked with The Lakota Group to prepare a Heritage Preservation Plan, a policy document that outlines key strategic directions for conserving Racine’s distinctive architecture and heritage as means for enhancing community economic vitality, quality of life, and sense of place. This Heritage Preservation Plan builds on Racine’s preservation assets – seven National Register Historic Districts, an intact traditional downtown, historic homes and schools, churches, parks, among others – and seeks to advance a preservation vision that engages both the public and private sectors in its implementation, both now and into the future. Just as important, the Plan addresses historic preservation not only in the context of identifying future historic districts and landmarks but also in positioning heritage conservation and historic preservation-based economic development as key revitalization and community development strategies for a quintessential Midwestern legacy city.