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 #31.
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.”
209 E. Main Street, Date: 1903, altered c. 1915 –“Contributing”
Description: This is a two-story brick building with painted brick exterior. The non-historic brick storefront of the main elevation (north) is asymmetrical, with a residential style door, three aluminum double-hung windows (eight-over-twelve, applied muntins), and shutters. Above the storefront is a shed-shaped, rigid canopy with asphalt shingles. The upper story formerly featured four window openings, now completely infilled with brick. A bracketed galvanized sheet-metal cornice is at the top. The rear elevation (south) is painted brick. The window and door openings have segmental arches and are a mixture of infill and utilities.
History: The structure was built as a one-story warehouse for the adjacent Sauer Hardware (205-207 E. Main), and the second story was added after 1912. The current first-story use is a law office (Nelson, Kilgus, Richey, Buckwalter-Schurman.)