In September 2012, through close work with the Illinois Historic Preservation Commission, the McDonough County Historic Preservation Society was granted permission to list the Bailey House on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. 

The McDonough County Historic Preservation Society Board is pleased that the Bailey House is the third structure in the Macomb Historic District to receive this distinction, along with the McDonough County Courthouse and the Lamoine Hotel. 

The Preservation Society Board would like to thank the many people who contributed through the past several decades to making this designation possible.  In particular, we want to thank Josiah William Collins, who donated the home to the newly created McDonough County Historic Preservation Society and to the group of foresighted citizens who formed the first Preservation Society Board (Kent Slater, Roger Carmack, Kenneth Epperson, Jim Jacobsen, Judy Kerr, John McDonald, Esther Nielsen, and Mary Ewing).

We also recognize the work of Bob Fischer, Kent Slater, Charles Miller, John Hemingway, Amy Hathaway, Andrew Heckenkamp, Allen Nemec, Jeri Scott, Randy Powell, Dan Lewis, and Marty Fischer, who contributed to the development of the National Registry application.