• Benefits of Historic Preservation

• Economic Impact of Preservation

• Preservation Success Stories (with Links)

The Economic Benefits of Historic Preservation

Executive Summary

Communities, towns, cities and organizations around the state have inventoried many of their assets including mansions, stores, civil war sites, archaeological sites, landmarks, or other fragments of history. While providing many communities with a sense of identity and place, historic preservation also contributes to West Virginia's economy.

Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and Main Street West Virginia have joined together in this study to provide estimates of the economic impacts of historic preservation programs in West Virginia. Preservation Alliance retained the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research to conduct the study.

This study quantifies the direct and indirect economic impacts associated with historic preservation capital expenditures and heritage tourism. The study examined the impact of several programs including: Main Street, tax credits, preservation grants, and ISTEA on the West Virginia economy. Non-residential construction projects were analyzed for the calendar year 1996. Construction expenditures were then placed into the IMPLAN input-output modeling system developed by WVU and a total impact was calculated based upon multipliers for each input sector.

The Main Street West Virginia program in the West Virginia Development Office targets the revitalization of central business districts. In 1996, nine of the 17 active Main Street communities total economic impact resulted in 192 jobs created, $10 million worth of construction projects which fueled an additional $8 million in business volume; all leveraging more than $300,000 worth of assorted state taxes.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation Office promotes historic preservation with the Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program and the Preservation Grant Program. Both of these programs, along with the ISTEA Program, have spurred nearly $6 million worth of construction and another $4.6 million in business volume, and created 112 job opportunities resulting in nearly $3 million worth of employee compensation provided by these construction projects.

In addition to construction estimates, the study also analyzed the results of heritage tourism in West Virginia. This type of tourism focuses on the development, promotion and visitation of tourism sites that are historic in nature. Heritage tourist expenditures created 390 jobs in businesses directly serving the tourists and another 130 jobs indirectly for a total employment impact of 520. These 520 employees earned $8.2 million in compensation. Business did $15.4 million worth of sales with the tourists, and including the indirect and induced impacts, heritage tourism created an additional $46.7 million in business volume.

Nearly $1 million worth of state taxes have been realized through historic preservation. These taxes include increases in consumer sales tax, personal income tax, corporate net income, and business franchise tax.
In summary, 1996 figures indicate that historic preservation in West Virginia has created 824 jobs, $68 million in total business volume, and over $1 million in assorted taxes and revenues for state government.