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The Historic Heartbeat of our Main Streets

By January 23, 2026January 29th, 2026Main Street RI

The Historic Heartbeat of our Main Streets

January 15, 2026
12-1PM
Featuring: Kelsey Mullen, Senior Historian & Public Information Officer, State Historic Preservation Office

Picture your favorite downtown, or just the one near where you live. Chances are high that wherever you’re imagining has a high density of historic buildings and streets that reflect decades of growth and change.

Reusing old buildings to serve current needs is central to cultivating a thriving Main Street, and we see examples everywhere in Rhode Island and around the country. In this session, the Rhode Island State Historic Preservation Office will highlight the benefits of preservation as a tool of economic development and demystify how the State’s preservation office approaches Main Street projects. Come with your questions!

RESOURCES

Historic preservation isn’t about freezing places in time — it’s about working with what’s already there to build places people actually want to be.

At least that’s how Kelsey Mullen of the Rhode Island State Historic Preservation & Heritage Commission approached the topic of historic preservation with us, and she had a lot of good data and helpful tools to help our Main Street leaders out.
Here are some key takeaways to consider as you plan for the future of your Main Street:

Historic Buildings Help Create Places People Love

When people talk about their favorite Main Streets, they rarely point to just one thing. It’s the mix: the storefronts, the textures, the sounds, the way people move through the space. Planners sometimes call this the “Power of 10” — places thrive when there are lots of small, human-scale reasons to linger.
Historic buildings do a lot of that work for free. Their materials, proportions, and details help create streets that feel welcoming and interesting, while also being more efficient. That’s a big part of why historic Main Streets invite walking, gathering, and spending time — instead of just driving through.

DID YOU KNOW? Rhode Island is the 2nd densest state, with more historic properties per square mile than any other. RI was one of the first states to survey its historic resources and build a preservation movement. What counts as historic? A good benchmark is about 50 years or older.

Myths about Historic Preservation

You’ve probably heard a lot of myths about historic preservation, such as it being blamed for limiting growth — from constraining small businesses and affordable housing to blocking upzoning and density. However, national and local data consistently show otherwise.
Let’s look at the actual data:

Nationally:

  • In 2023 AIA found a majority (51%) of construction billings were for adaptive reuse (rehabbing old buildings, updating existing buildings) rather than new development.
  • Heritage visitors stay longer, visit more places and spend more than other tourists.
  • 50% of US residents rate walkability as top priority in choosing where to live.
  • Historic areas generally mirror the economic, racial, and ethnic demographics of their city or town, largely due to their density and prevalence of rental housing.
  • Resources like libraries, colleges, public art, social services, museums, are twice as numerous in historic corridors than non-historic corridors, and they are home to more small businesses than other areas.
  • Historic district property values do better when the market is good, fall later and less steeply in declines, and begin value recovery sooner than other neighborhoods.

Courtesy of Preservation GreenLab

In Rhode Island:

Local historic district areas outperform their size.
  • They comprise 1% of state land area but contain 12% of our populace and 4% of the state’s jobs.
  • 20% of new housing projects come from historic tax credit funding — busting another myth that historic districts prevent new housing.
  • Since 2010, 56% of RI’s population growth has taken place in local historic districts — a strong signal that people are choosing them on purpose.
It’s not just residents who prefer historic districts, tourists do too.
  • Heritage tourism represents 43% of visitors to RI and they stay longer and spend more.
  • 9.8 million heritage tourists annually boost RI’s economy by nearly $1.4 billion.
  • Restaurants, hotels, and other employers depend on heritage tourism, with about 26,000 jobs directly linked to the heritage tourism industry.
  • The National Trust’s Atlas of ReUrbanism measured urban “character” across 100 cities, examining economic vitality, density and inclusiveness. In Providence RI, older, more historic areas had twice the density, 65% more small business jobs, 44% more jobs in new businesses, and 82% more women and minority owned businesses.

Old Buildings are Green Buildings

The greenest building is the one already built. Historic districts provide 2 ½ times more tax revenue, are 2 to 5 times denser, and have more small businesses and population growth. Energy surveys of buildings in NYC show historic buildings outperform new construction, drawing less energy.

Funding for Historic Preservation

State Historic Preservation Programs

Rhode Island has several State historic preservation programs that support maintenance of and investment in historic buildings. 19 of our 39 cities and towns have created local historic district(s) with a zoning overlay, and have become a CLG (certified local government) eligible for funding from the State Historic Preservation Office. Smaller-scale funding of $10K to $20K per year can support planning and documenting projects, public programming, etc.
APPLY FOR A GRANT TODAY!
The Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission has just announced their 2026 CLG grant funding, with about $70K to distribute across 19 potential grantee communities. If you are not a CLG you can apply and it is not a difficult process. They also administer tax credit programs and advise groups on state and federal tax credit programs – how to understand the programs, meet the requirements, do proper paperwork, address the National Register process.
ADDITIONAL GRANT RESROUCES FOR PRESERVATION PROJECTS LISTED HERE.

Historic Tax Credits

Historic Tax Credits are a key driver of preservation and reuse in Rhode Island. The federal program provides a 20% credit on eligible projects and has supported decades of reinvestment, including mill conversions to housing and affordable housing. While in past years Rhode Island’s state historic tax credit program played a similar role and is seen as RI’s best community development tool, it is currently unfunded, making restoration of this program an important advocacy priority. LEARN MORE >

The Bottom Line for our Main Streets

Historic preservation isn’t a niche issue or a special-interest concern. It’s a proven, practical strategy that supports small businesses, housing, walkability, tourism, climate goals, and community identity — all at once.
For Main Street practitioners, the message is clear: taking care of historic places isn’t separate from revitalization work. It’s at the heart of it.

RESOURCES

The Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission has a wealth of helpful tools, resources and other materials available on their website which you should explore. Kelsey also shared the following additional resources, from which she pulled the data cited above:

BOOKS

Interested in viewing Kelsey’s slides? You can see them here. 

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