Hawley Bill to Designate Missouri Churchill Museum as a National Historic Landmark Signed into Law

Hawley Bill to Designate Missouri Churchill Museum as a National Historic Landmark Signed into Law

Friday, November 13, 2026

WASHINGTON - Senator Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) legislation to designate America's National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri, as a National Historic Landmark was signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The museum is located on the Westminster College campus in Fulton, Missouri. On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill joined President Harry S. Truman to speak at the Missouri college. It was at this site that Churchill famously described the state of foreign affairs in Europe by saying, "From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." In the 1960s to honor the 20th anniversary of Churchill's visit, Westminster College imported a 17th-century church from London to Fulton. The church of St. Mary Aldermanbury was moved stone-by-stone to Westminster's campus. Reconstruction was completed in 1969 and is today's location of the museum.

As Senator Hawley said in a floor speech during passage, "But I would suggest even something more: as a commemoration and mark of what we hold dearest together, what we most cherish as Americans, because that church symbolizes, really, the cradle of our civilization; the values that underlie who we are as a people; the sanctity of the individual; the rights of individual conscience; the right to worship; the liberties that flow to us not from a government, not from a bureaucrat, but from almighty God…This church will stand on the campus of Westminster in Fulton, MO, blessed as a National Historic Landmark, to speak to the principles that are at the heart of the American experiment and which we reaffirm in this 250th year and which continue to shine brightly in the State of Missouri."

The legislation will:

• Direct the Secretary of Interior to establish America's National ChurchillMuseum in Fulton, Missouri as a National Historic Landmark. A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance.
• Direct National Park Service to conduct a Special Resource Study to consider future potential designations for the site.

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