The Morrison Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC) has applied to nominate an appropriate portion of the comunity’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 #38.
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.”
218 W. Main Street, Date: 1924–“Contributing”
Description: This is a one-story building of structural clay tile with painted brick and pargeted exterior. The main elevation (south) has a raised, off-center entrance (non-historic glass and aluminum door, blocked transom) with a single-slope concrete ramp with railings, three large display windows (non-historic aluminum, center mullion, stone sills, historic segmental arch transoms), and painted stippled brick bulkheads and piers. Above the storefront is a continuous, shed-shaped striped fabric awning with returns and valances. The parapet is pargeted with four diamond-shaped panels, raised center section, and metal coping. The roof is barrel vaulted supported by wood trusses. The rear elevation (north) is pargeted with three window openings (non-historic, single light windows), entrance door (non-historic, part of historic window opening), and garage door (non-historic aluminum.) The parapet is stepped with aluminum coping.
History: It was constructed as a garage in 1924 for the Mills Motor Sales Company, which was a Ford-Lincoln-Mercury Dealership, and the company remained in the building until 1987. Tenants after 1987 included Color Star Painting and Interior Decorating Store (1989-1999), Morrison Sesquicentennial Headquarters (2004-2005), Website Service Company (2005, MagicGeorge.com), thecity1.com (2005-present, Morrison’s online newspaper), Tegeler Accounting Services (2005-present), and the building’s current major tenant, The City Rebar, Inc. (2005-present.)