The History of Equal Rights Historic Preservation funding will enable the Museum to refurbish architectural features, restore the west walkway, and stabilize the limestone bluff on which the historic Cottage is perched. Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum collaborated with R1 to apply. The R1 team includes specialists in historic preservation, planning and public administration with a deep appreciation and understanding of regional history, making them the ideal partner for historic preservation and museum grant proposals.
The museum’s connections with the equals rights movement was pivotal in qualifying for this grant. The Tinker family was active in movements during the 19th and 20th centuries. Mary Dorr Manny Tinker led the Manny Reaper Works after her first husband died and continued this role after she married Robert Tinker. The family also had ties with Jane Addams, founder of Chicago’s Hull House.
Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum is the only Illinois recipient out of 14 organizations that received an award from the NPS History of Equal Rights Historic Preservation Fund. Established in 1977, the fund invests in U.S. communities to safeguard cultural resources, strengthen local economies, and ensure that more Americans see their history represented. Since its inception, it has provided more than $2 billion to states, tribes, local governments and nonprofit organizations. The Fund is the nation’s primary source of federal funding for historic preservation and supported by revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf.
R1 and Tinker would like to thank Joe Chiarelli, Winnebago County Chairman; Jay Sandine, Rockford Park District Executive Director; and the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office for their support.
About Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum
Opened as a museum in 1943 and named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, Tinker Swiss Cottage and Gardens was the home of Mary Dorr Manny Tinker, chief executive of the Manny Reaper Works from 1857 through the 1870s, and Robert H. Tinker, one-time Rockford Mayor and founding commissioner of the Rockford Park District. Tinker Swiss Cottage is a historic site celebrating a Rockford family as a political force and a rare example of Swiss architecture in the US.
About R1
Region 1 Planning Council is a special-purpose, regional government agency providing cross-jurisdictional, government-to-government collaborative planning for Northern Illinois. The regional planning model provides an efficient means to promoting a well-informed, comprehensive dialogue that holistically addresses regional issues by fulfilling the needs of government entities for long-range planning, securing funding, and analyzing and providing data in support of regional projects and initiatives.
