Area cemeteries receive grant funds to restore and repair cemeteries
Illinois is directing new state funding toward the restoration of abandoned and neglected burial grounds. The first Cemetery Relief Fund grants have been awarded to ten communities, with each eligible for up to $20,000. The money is meant to help repair, preserve, and maintain cemeteries that have fallen into disrepair. Among the recipients is Milton Township, which will use its grant to restore a Civil War-era cemetery site in Wheaton. Bishop Hill also received funding, aimed at honoring Swedish pioneers buried there in unmarked graves. State officials say the program helps protect local history while giving long-overlooked resting places renewed dignity.
“Across Illinois, this program is already delivering meaningful improvements,” said IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto, Jr. “Restored cemeteries mean protected history, safer grounds, and more inviting places for families to gather and remember. These changes help ensure loved ones are honored in beautiful, respectful settings for years to come.”
In Bishop Hill, a small rural community founded by Swedish pioneers in the mid-1800s, a grant program is helping preserve local history at the historic Bishop Hill Cemetery. Village Treasurer Sharon Wexell says crews have repaired broken tombstones, added gravel to an overgrown path, and trimmed trees and bushes around the grounds. The village is also installing a memorial stone honoring early settlers buried in unmarked graves. A QR code on the memorial will connect visitors with more information about those laid to rest there. Wexell says Bishop Hill’s unique Swedish heritage makes preservation work not just important, but necessary.
“Our ancestors established a very unique Swedish settlement, and we should and are compelled to preserve the history of our ancestors and the hardships they endured to settle this area,” Wexell said.
The City of Macomb is receiving state support to help restore a local cemetery through a Cemetery Relief Grant. State Senator Michael Halpin of Rock Island says everyone deserves a clean, safe, and respectful place to remember loved ones who have passed, adding that he hopes the restoration brings comfort to families with relatives buried there. State Representative Dan Swanson of Woodhull also welcomed the funding, saying it will help preserve dignity and respect for the final resting places of many Macomb residents. The grant is intended to support necessary cemetery improvements and long-term care for the site.
“Everyone should have a clean, safe and respectable place to commemorate and visit those who they love that have passed on,” said Sen. Michael Halpin (D-Rock Island). “I am glad to see these funds go towards a worthy project of restoring this cemetery in Macomb and I hope the restoration brings comfort to the families of those buried there.”
“I am happy to see the city of Macomb receive this Cemetery Relief Grant which will help ensure continued respect and dignity for the final resting places of so many of the city’s residents,” said state Rep. Dan Swanson (R-Woodhull).
Find more information on the Cemetery Relief Grant at idfpr.illinois.gov/profs/cemetery/il-cemetery-relief-fund-grant.html