The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its annual list of the most endangered historic places in the United States for 2026, featuring 11 sites that nod to America's 250th anniversary and the foundational promise of equality for all.
Theme of Equality
The 2026 list, announced on Wednesday, marks America's 250th anniversary with the theme that everyone is created equal, according to Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization. The 11 sites illustrate how Americans have fought against injustice and for equality over time.
"We wanted to think about those ideas, especially this notion that all human beings are created equal and find places, sometimes unsung places ... that not all Americans routinely think about," Quillen told the Associated Press.
Sites Across the Country
The sites are spread across the United States, from New York and California on the coasts, to Alabama and Texas in the South, Michigan in the Midwest, and the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. At least three sites—Stonewall National Monument, El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus in Texas, and the President's House Site in Philadelphia—have been endangered by Trump administration actions.
"We want to save these places," Quillen said, "not just because the bricks and mortar is important but because the stories these places hold are important."
New Grants
For the first time since the list debuted in 1988, each site on the 2026 list will receive a one-time $25,000 grant to help highlight their connections to the principle that all people are created equal and address the threats they face.
List of 11 Sites
- Ben Moore Hotel, Montgomery, Alabama: A refuge for Black people under racial segregation, now vacant and deteriorating, with development pressure on the surrounding Centennial Hill neighborhood. It housed key Civil Rights Movement figures.
- Tule Lake Segregation Center, Modoc County, California: Initially a war relocation center, later a segregation center for Japanese Americans deemed disloyal. Only 37 of 1,100 acres are protected; most is at risk from proposed construction.
- Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon Island, California: The largest West Coast immigration port from 1910 to 1940, processing hundreds of thousands, primarily from Asia. Threatened by physical, environmental, political, and economic factors.
- Swansea Friends Meeting House, Somerset, Massachusetts: The oldest surviving Quaker meeting house in the state, built in 1701 as a refuge from religious persecution. Closed for years and needs significant rehabilitation.
- Detroit Association of Women's Clubs, Detroit, Michigan: One of the first Black organizations in Detroit to own their headquarters, purchased in 1941. Closed since 2024 due to water pipe damage; needs funding to reopen.
- Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah: Ancestral homeland of Pueblo and Hopi people for over a millennium, threatened by changes to federal land policy that could open it to oil and gas development.
- Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, New York: Tells the story of the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848. Faces over $10 million in deferred maintenance backlog.
- Stonewall National Monument, New York, New York: The first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history. Subject to Trump administration actions, including removal of the Pride flag and excision of transgender references from materials.
- The President's House Site, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Trump administration abruptly removed exhibits on nine enslaved people who lived there under George Washington. The issue is in litigation.
- Hanging Rock Revolutionary War Battlefield, Heath Springs, South Carolina: A key Patriot victory in the Revolutionary War's Southern Campaigns. Only portions are protected; facing development pressure from population growth.
- El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus, Ruidosa, Texas: A century-old adobe church serving Mexican and Mexican American farming communities. Vacant since the 1950s, threatened by proposed border wall construction.
