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 #7.
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 Potter Building, Date: 1927–“Contributing”
Description: This one-story corner building of structural clay tile construction with unpainted red brick exterior is at 101 W. Market Street. The entrance is at the chamfered corner with cast stone architrave trim and entablature (“POTTER” incised in the frieze.) The main elevation (north) has a concrete water table and soldier arch openings. The openings are, from east-to-west, aluminum display window (center mullion), three adjacent nine-light steel sash, door (replacement), and loading dock door (infilled with smaller window, door, and siding.) All transoms are covered with plywood. The side elevation (east) is similar, with a large opening near the corner (infilled with two smaller windows and horizontal siding), and two smaller openings near the back. A gable roof with siding was added. The rear elevation (south) faces the railroad tracks.
History: Designed by Walter E. Bort of Clinton, IA, for the Potter Brothers Lumber Company as a sash and door warehouse. Bort was a regionally renowned architect who designed a number of structures in Morrison. It appears that Potter Brothers erected the building themselves using a structural steel frame by the Clinton Bridge Works, windows by the Detroit Steel Products Company, and cast stone ornamentation by the Cement Products Co. The building was occupied by Potter Brothers until they went out of business c. 1963. The tenant since then has been Nelson’s Electric.