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 #58.
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.”
115 W. Main Street, Date: c. 1860, c. 1970 –Contributing
Description: This is a two-story, brick building with painted brick exterior. The main elevation (north) was modernized in the 20th century. The symmetrical storefront has a recessed residential-style door, large aluminum display windows, painted tile bulkheads, and a continuous prism glass transom (now painted.) The upper story has three double-hung rectangular windows within a recessed plane of masonry. Several stepped brick courses are below the parapet–itself capped with stone. The rear elevation (south) is clad with vertical aluminum siding. There is a first-story door opening and two small rectangular window openings above.
History: This building is attributed to Horace Hinkson as builder and constructed at the same time as 113 W. Main Street. The building housed a grocery, drug and book store, and a confectionary that included a fountain and luncheon counter. The confectionary operated continuously from 1903 through 1969. Afterward, the building housed a taco place, a pizza parlor, a curiosity shop, a video arcade, and then a series of five saloons, including its present occupant, KJ’s Bar & Grill.