The Illinois Amish Heritage ­Center near Arthur broke ground April 25 on a $3.2 million visitors center and museum.

Two horses pulled a plow to symbolize the beginning of construction. The 10,000-square-foot structure will resemble a barn when it is completed next year and will enable the center to host more visitors year-round instead of only during seasonal hours.

“It’s the keystone of the entire campus,” said heritage center board chair Wilmer Otto. “We have brought in a number of supporting historical structures, but the museum and visitors center will tie it all together with exhibits that depict the history of the Anabaptist movement and the history of this community.”

The Illinois Amish Heritage Center was created in 1994 and moved in 2016 to its current seven-acre site between Chesterville and Arthur. The facility includes the 1865 Moses Yoder House, the oldest Amish house in Illinois; the 1882 Daniel Schrock House; the Miller Amish German School, which dates to around 1900; and the Hershberger-Miller Barn, restored in 2023.

The center has been awarded a $500,000 grant for the visitors center and museum project, and a capital campaign has raised $1.4 million.