Dave Lineal

WTF is going on in Illinois?! Cahokia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. Its Interpretive Center closed in March 2022 for a “one year or more” renovation. The public was told roughly $5 million. Four years later, the museum is still not fully open. Reporting says the cost is now around $12 million. The roof alone was about $1.4 million. The mechanical/electrical work ate millions more. The HVAC apparently “just wasn’t working.” This is public stewardship failure at one of the most important archaeological sites on Earth. This is one of the places that permanently destroys the myth that North America was an empty wilderness. Illinois had one job: preserve and interpret one of the most significant Indigenous cities ever built. Cahokia should be treated like a crown jewel of human history. Instead Illinois managed its museum like a busted storage room behind a county office. This isn’t over.