Fighting unemployment with tourism

Officials in Macoupin County, Ill., fighting high joblessness because of the closing of several coal mines, are taking a different tack on trying to address the problem.

The Springfield Journal-Register reports that the county will create a Macoupin County Tourism Commission.

Efforts will include Route 66-related projects and the creation of a Web site listing historical and tourist sites in Macoupin County. […]

“We’re a large county with many historic sites. Not everyone, for example, may realize Mount Olive’s connection to Mother Jones,” Manar said, referring to Mary Harris Jones, a turn-of-the-20th-century  labor activist buried in the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“There’s a 20-foot bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln in Bunker Hill that was built in the early 1900s. Our county courthouse is second to none in the state,” Manar added.

Macoupin is applying to have the courthouse listed on the National Register as well.

Mindful of the potential for Route 66 to attract tourism, the county assumed ownership and maintenance of an old bridge along the famed route.

Officials who need advice about the Mother Road ought to consult with this business first.

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