National Park Acquisition Amendment Included In Recently Introduced Senate Bill

The U.S. Senate bill introduced last year that would allow the National Park Service (NPS) to acquire a structure in Ste. Genevieve that is not necessarily historic has been incorporated into a larger bill proposed earlier this month.

Senate Bill 47, called the Natural Resources Management Act, was introduced on January 8 by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The bill picks up on the proposal in Senate Bill 3646, which was introduced in November of 2018 by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri. That bill was to replace language for acquisition from “any nationally significant property identified in the special resource study” to “any property within” the national historic district.

The intention of the bill was to allow the Department of the Interior to acquire a property that may serve as a visitors center or offices for the Sainte Genevieve National Historical Park that will be operated by NPS.

NPS officials visiting Ste. Genevieve last year discussed a desire to have a downtown presence in addition to the historical park that will be established on St. Mary’s Road around historic buildings such as the Beauvais-Amoureux House.

See complete story in the January 30 edition of the Herald.