By state · IL

National Parks in Illinois.

Illinois's NPS network at a glance — units, designations, visit totals, and what shapes the visiting season.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Illinois has more than five NPS units, anchored by Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Springfield, the only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned) and Pullman National Historical Park (Chicago, the planned company town built around the Pullman railcar works and a labor-history landmark). Other units include the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail's Camp River Dubois segment, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom sites, and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site network. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) and Chicago Midway (MDW) anchor the northern state; Springfield (SPI) is closest to Lincoln Home; St. Louis (STL, Missouri) reaches the southern trail segments. Lincoln Home's free tours operate year-round but require a same-day ticket from the visitor center; arrive early in summer.

Every NPS unit in Illinois.

Illinois's 8 NPS units: 3 National Historic Trails · 2 National Historic Sites · 2 National Monuments · 1 National Historical Park. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 165,906 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch — see methodology). The most-visited unit is Lincoln Home National Historic Site at about 134K annual visits.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Lincoln Home National Historic Site National Historic SiteLIHO 134,419 July
Pullman National Historical Park National Historical ParkPULL 27,849 July
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument National MonumentTILL 3,638 June
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail National Historic TrailLECL
Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail National Historic TrailMOPI
New Philadelphia National Historic Site National Historic SiteNEPH
Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument National MonumentSPRA
Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail National Historic TrailTRTE

Methodology

Unit list and per-unit visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025. The "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state NPS units (Yellowstone, Death Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and others) are listed under every state they touch; the per-unit visit count is the unit's total, not a per-state share. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-05-19