The Morrison Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC) has applied to nominate an appropriate portion of the community’s commercial district to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With the assistance of our consultants, the MHPC has spent months researching and writing the substance of our application. In the hopes that the community will find the information contained therein both interesting and informative, we will be running, one at a time, in no particular order, over the next year, the architectural and historical description of each building included. We hope you enjoy installment #46.
Note: The National Register of Historic Places is literally a listing of spaces, structures, or areas recognized to be of National historic, cultural or architectural importance. It is kept by the United States Department of Interior, but the program is largely administered by an individual State’s preservation authority. In Illinois, this is the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The term “contributing” means that the structure lies within an historic district and adds to the architectural or historic significance of the same as a whole. If it is within the boundaries of the district, but does not so supplement, it is deemed “non-contributing.”
207 W. Main Street, Date: 1926–“Contributing”
Description: This is a one-story structural clay tile building with unpainted brick exterior. The main elevation (north) presents a non-historic (2013) storefront (off-center recessed entrance, aluminum door and windows, stone sills, brick bulkheads), framed by historic piers of stippled brick and a tall brick parapet, with newer brick matching the existing. There are two vertical stone plaques between a rowlock course (bottom) and header course (top.) The central portion of the parapet is raised with a soldier course. Coping is of terra cotta tiles. A raised sidewalk in front has aluminum pipe railings and steps onto Main Street. The rear elevation (south) is newly-installed brick with aluminum (east) and glass block (west) windows and stone lintels and sills. The door is aluminum and glass (Kawneer) with a small fabric awning above. In 2013, the building underwent an exterior and interior renovation, which included the reconstruction of the front and rear walls, while maintaining the north-facing upper masonry wall with its two keystones.
History: The building has housed a number of businesses since its construction, including the Illinois Northern Utilities Company from 1926 to 1952, the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois from 1952 to 1961, and the Whiteside County Superintendent of Schools from 1961 to 1976. From 1976 to 2013, the building housed Emerson TV (1976 to 1985), Alltel Systems (1985 to 1986), The Clothes Depot (1986 to 1997), Boss Best Office Supplies
(1997 to 1999), Radio Shack (1999), the Daily Gazette from 1999 to 2003, Country Village Emporium (2003 to 2005), Bookworm ( 2005), Custom Sports Wear (2006), and Best Pets Shop (2009 to 2011). The building was vacant from 2011 to 2013. In 2013 Vaughn Property Management purchased the property and developed the building for beautician use, now occupied by Extreme Hair Salon.