William Brown Building

	William Brown Building
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. Historic district ; Contributing property
Location	226-228 S. Main St., Rockford, Illinois
Coordinates	42°16′10″N89°5′43″W / 42.26944°N 89.09528°W Coordinates: 42°16′10″N89°5′43″W / 42.26944°N 89.09528°W
Area	0.3 acres (0.12 ha)
Built	1892
Architect	Unknown
Architectural style	Romanesque
Part of	West Downtown Rockford Historic District (#07000899)
NRHP reference #	00000946 [1]
Added to NRHP	August 10, 2000

Last updated May 05, 2019

The William Brown Building is a historic commercial building in Rockford, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1892, it is considered a fine local example of Romanesque Revival architecture. It was one of the last major commercial buildings in Rockford between the Panic of 1893 and the Roaring Twenties.

Rockford is a city in Winnebago County in the U.S. state of Illinois, in far northern Illinois. Located on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County. The largest city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Rockford is the third-largest city in the state and the 171st most populous in the United States According to 2010 U.S. Census Data, the City of Rockford had a population of 152,871, with an outlying metropolitan area population of 348,360. The City of Rockford's population is 147,051 as of 2017, down 4.1% since 2010.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, however, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to feature more simplified arches and windows than their historic counterparts.

History

By the 1890s, the west downtown district of Rockford, Illinois was finally beginning to eclipse the east downtown district. The construction of the Chestnut Street bridge opened the southern part of Main Street to commerce. The architect of the building is unknown. The Nelson House, sharing some architectural similarities, was completed the next year and may have had the same architect: D. S. Shureman. Judge William Brown was a successful lawyer and politician in the city who died during construction. The building was named in his honor.^[2]

The West Downtown Rockford Historic District is a set of forty-four buildings in Rockford, Illinois, United States that reflect the downtown district of the city west of the Rock River. Of these buildings, forty-one contribute to the historical significance of the district.

The East Rockford Historic District is a historic commercial area of Rockford, Illinois, United States.

The People's Bank of Rockford was the first tenant, moving in after construction. The Rockford Insurance Company soon followed. Until the completion of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, the William Brown Building also hosted the local offices of the Grand Army of the Republic. However, soon after the building's completion, the Panic of 1893 occurred, freezing development in Rockford. For its role as a significant local example of Romanesque architecture, the National Park Service recognized the William Brown Building with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 2000. When the West Downtown Rockford Historic District was created in 2007, the Brown building was listed as a contributing property.^[2]

Memorial Hall, also known as Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Veterans Memorial Hall, is located in Rockford, Illinois. It was built from 1901 to 1903, and originally was dedicated to those who served in the Civil War and the Spanish–American War. It is said to be the first of its kind in the United States. It is located on the west side of Rockford, one block from the Rock River, across the street from the Rockford Public Library, formerly the Carnegie Library. Although it was initially conceived to honor just those from Winnebago County, Illinois who served in the American Civil War, supporters added a listing of county Spanish–American War veterans before building was begun. Other Winnebago County veterans were later memorialized inside and outside the Hall. The Memorial is one of the few veteran's memorials that is not a monument. The building is administered by the Winnebago County Board and was dedicated on June 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, Union Navy, Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois, and growing to include hundreds of posts across the nation, it was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota. Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at more than 490,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.

The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley.

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Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston (1872–1877), designated a National Historic Landmark. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870.

The Downtown Historic District of San Jose, California is a designated U.S. Historic District area of the city roughly the size of one square block. It is bounded by S. First Street to the west, E. San Fernando Street to the south, S. Third Street to the east, and E. Santa Clara Street to the north, but also includes the south side of E. Santa Clara Street between Third and Fourth Streets.

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References

↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
1 2 http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/122251.pdf

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[nris-1] National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.

[nrhp-2] 1 2 http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/122251.pdf


William Brown Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property


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Location	226-228 S. Main St., Rockford, Illinois
Coordinates	42°16′10″N89°5′43″W / 42.26944°N 89.09528°W / 42.26944; -89.09528 Coordinates: 42°16′10″N89°5′43″W / 42.26944°N 89.09528°W / 42.26944; -89.09528
Area	0.3 acres (0.12 ha)
Built	1892 (1892)
Architect	Unknown
Architectural style	Romanesque
Part of	West Downtown Rockford Historic District (#07000899)
NRHP reference #	00000946 ^[1]
Added to NRHP	August 10, 2000