The Morrison Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC) is applying 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 #5.
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.”
The Crosby Building, Date: c. 1860, 1874–“Contributing”
Description: Two-story corner brick building (125 W. Main Street.) The symmetrical main elevation (north) features a storefront with a recessed entrance and a painted brick upper story. The storefront, framed by end brick piers, has large, vinyl display windows, with vinyl fanlight transoms and wood, recessed-panel bulkheads and entrance sides. The door is a residential-style replacement, with a matching fanlight transom. Above the storefront is a bracketed wood lintel cornice. The second story has three tall window openings with flattened arch tops, historic two-over-two, double-hung wood windows, and stone sills. The deeply projecting wooden cornice is similar to the one below, but with larger and more decorative brackets. The side elevation (west) is covered with vertical aluminum siding. There are two small first-story window openings and three windows and a door on the second story. These windows are historic two-over-two, double-hung wood. The door is one-light (blocked) with two panels below. The bracketed cornice of the main elevation wraps around and continues along the side. The rear elevation (south) is likewise covered with vertical aluminum siding. It only has a small first-story window opening and an unglazed door.
History: The building’s early uses included a grocery store (until the 1900’s) and a harness shop (1910’s.) From mid-1930’s through mid-1940’s it housed a couple of cigar enterprises. Then, in 1944, it began a nearly 50-year run as a number of differently-named local dram shops, operated by as many as a dozen different owners. Currently the building is used by Crossroads Community Church.