At a recent awards ceremony, Preservation Iowa announced their
annual Preservation at Its Best Awards to honor individuals, organizations, projects, and
programs whose work demonstrates a commitment to excellence in historic preservation. The
awards were presented as part of the 2022 Preserve Iowa Summit held in Mason City, IA on June
2-4, 2022. Twelve (12) awards were presented in ten (10) categories as shown on the chart and described
below. Awards ranged throughout Iowa: Bloomfield, Centerville, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry
County, Keosauqua, Newton, Red Oak, and Sioux City.
Henry County Historic Preservation Commission received the Special Projects Award for the book, “The Rural Schools of Henry County, Iowa.” This is a comprehensive book assembled by volunteers covering 100 years of rural public education in Henry County. The city of Keosauqua received the Paula Mohr Certified Local Government of the Year award recognizing contributions of former advisor Paula Mohr to Iowa’s CLG program and historic preservation as the first recipient.
“Preservation Iowa, a state-wide non-profit advocate for preservation projects in Iowa, is thrilled
to honor projects and people who truly demonstrate preservation’s power to change the future of
Iowa. These awards honor thousands of volunteer hours and over $120 million of investment in
Iowa’s economy. Without the combination of private funding, historic tax credits, grant awards,
and public dollars, projects like these would be impossible,” commented Bruce Perry, President,
Preservation Iowa.