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 #56.
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.”
121-123 W. Main Street, Date: 1863–Non-contributing
Description: This is a three-story brick building with vinyl siding. The main elevation (north) presents a modernized non-historic façade. The west storefront (123 W. Main) has been reduced to two small raised display windows, flanking a recessed replacement entry door. The east storefront (121 W. Main) has a single, small window without an entrance. The remainder of the first story is covered with horizontal vinyl siding. The upper stories retain the number and placement of the original window openings, while the windows themselves (six per story) are double-hung replacements and mostly reduced in size. The wall surface is covered with vertical vinyl siding, and the projecting eave is wrapped in aluminum. The roof is hipped with an added top gable. The rear elevation (south) is likewise covered with horizontal (first story) and vertical (upper stories) vinyl siding. The window and door openings are a mixture of historic and modern materials, infill, and utilities. The west section has a screened second-story porch on posts. The third story masonry is exposed, with segmental arch window openings, pilasters, and stepped coursework.
History: Constructed by Richard Francis, John Bickert, and H. E. Lukens, the building housed various functions and uses for over a century, including residential space, a grocery, a furniture store, an undertaker, a tailor, a millinery and a jeweler. In the last one hundred years, the building has been occupied by an insurance agency, a men’s clothier, three restaurants, two shoe stores, four used furniture stores, a meat market, a TV repair shop, a dance studio, a dancer’s apparel shop, seven iterations of a liquor store, and a tanning salon. Mark and Traci Heusinkveld are current tenants of five Morrison Specialty Shop businesses: 123 Tee’s, The Dancer’s Hut, Sheer Envy Hair, Uniquely Made Gifts, and Tanning Salon.