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 #62.
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.”
W. Market Street (SE corner of Market and Base), Date: 1895—“Contributing”
Description: This is a three-story corner brick building with pargeted exterior. The main elevation (north) presents two segmental arch door openings near the main corner, with historic paneled, wood doors and transoms. Between the doors is a raised historic steel window (eight-light with center pivot sash.) Two more matching steel windows exist on the upper facade, one per story. On the third story near the parapet are two segmental arch openings with segment top louvers. Above is a continuous stepped corbel table with triangular arches. The parapet is capped with terra cotta coping. The side elevation (west) is also pargeted with two first-story openings (steel window and aluminum garage door), and stepped parapet with terra cotta coping. The building’s rear elevation (south) faces the railroad tracks.
History: It was erected as a large storage warehouse for the Morrison Produce Company, with a cold storage and ice house capacity for 500 tons of ice. When the building was completed, it was the largest cold storage building in the State outside of Chicago, IL, and one of the largest in the Midwest. The Morrison Produce Company operated out of this location until the late 1940’s. Historically consistent, the building is currently being used as a warehouse.