Jacksonville Labor Temple (Illinois AFL-CIO)

Ferry Building (Tom Paiva Photography)

Mercantile Exchange Building
(Grahm Balkany, Preservation Chicago)

TRANSITIONS

SAVED

1904 Jacksonville Labor Temple, Jacksonville, Ill.: built by local Trades and Labor Assembly, served as union headquarters until 1980s, rescued from demolition by Illinois AFL-CIO

Quechan Indian sacred site, Indian Pass, Calif.: spared Bush administration– approved open-pit, cyanide-leaching gold mine by state law requiring restoration of landscape to pre-mining condition

THREATENED
Millions of BLM-managed acres: vulnerable to development because Interior Department ended further wilderness designations

RESTORED
1898 Ferry Building, San Francisco: Handled 50 million passengers a year before major bridges, renovated as showplace organic food market

1929 Nabisco Biscuit Co. factory, Beacon, N.Y.: converted to Dia:Beacon, big museum spaces for big contemporary art

1703 Fair Hill Burial Ground, Philadelphia: cleared of trash, planted with flowers in 10-year effort to reclaim resting place of abolitionists and women's rights leaders Lucretia Mott and Robert Purvis

LOST
1927 Mercantile Exchange Building, Chicago: demolished by prominent Crown family, despite 17-story Beaux-Arts–style building's high historic status under city law

1887 Giese House, Los Angeles: torn down without permit by developer, whom city council voted to prosecute and prevent from building on site for five years

LAST CALL
1890 M&M Cigar Store, Butte, Mont.: closed after serving drinks 24/7 since 19th-c. opening