South Main Street Historic District | |
 A portion of the district. | |
| Location | S. Main St., jct. with Jefferson and Janesville Sts., Oregon, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 00000699 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | June 15, 2000 |
The South Main Street Historic District is a surviving collection of eleven commercial buildings built from 1877 to 1915 in the old downtown of Oregon, Wisconsin, plus the WWI memorial. [2] It was added to the State and the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. [3]
The first house in what would become Oregon was built in 1842, a log cabin built for C.P. Mosely just east of what is now the Main Street district. The house became a tavern and a general store under I.M. Bennett. James Coville built another log house in 1843, just north of the district, and operated a shoe shop in it. A community grew there, called "Rome Corners." A post office was added in 1848, and a frame hotel called the Oregon Exchange in 1849. [2]
In 1857 Charles Waterman had a village platted and called "Oregon." In 1864 the Beloit and Madison Railroad reached town, making Oregon a shipping point for the surrounding country. In 1883 the village incorporated, with over 500 inhabitants. The village continued to grow, adding a flour and grist mill in 1890, the first bank in 1892, a volunteer fire-fighting company in 1895, a water tower in 1898, a creamery in 1900, a telephone exchange in 1901, and paved streets in 1916. [2] Some of the commercial buildings from this period of expansion survive, including:
- The C.E. Powers building at 115 S. Main Street was built in 1877 - a 2-story commercial vernacular brick building that still has its cast-iron columns in the street-level storefront. The top of the front wall is decorated with a brick cornice. [2] [4]
- The Cowdrey Tailor shop at 111 S. Main was built in 1878, trimmed with Italianate brickwork. In 1911 the facade was updated to a then-modern Broadfront style. [2] [5]
- The Howe Drug Store at 121 S. Main was built in 1880 with Italianate-styled cream brick, then updated to red and white brick in 1907, and then updated again in 1940 with an orange brick veneer. [2] [6]
- Howe Rental at 123 S. Main was also built in 1880, in a style that matched Howe's drug store next door. Its facade was updated in 1925. [2] [7]
- The Marvin Hardware store/Masonic Lodge at 117 South Main Street is a nicely decorated Romanesque Revival building erected in 1898, [2] [8] described in more detail in its own article.
- The Netherwood building at 104 Janesville Street (center left in the photo above) is another two-story, cream brick, Romanesque Revival building. Like the Masonic Lodge, red brick decorations contrast with the cream brick. Above the upper windows is a pressed metal cornice and a brick parapet. [2] [9]
- The McDermott building at 109 S. Main is a 2-story red-brick building with white stone trim above the windows and above that a corbelled parapet topped with light stone trim. It was built in 1899. [2] [10]
- The Montgomery & Martin/Observer building at 112 Janesville St. is a 2-story commercial vernacular office building with pressed metal window hoods and a pressed metal cornice. It was built in 1899. [2] [11]
- The Hausmann Brewing Company Saloon at 116 Janesville St. is a small commercial vernacular building erected in 1900 with the front wire-cut orange brick. [2] [12]
- The T.H. Grady Grocery at 134 S Main is a brick Modern Broadfront-style store built in 1915. [2] [13]
- The World War I Veterans Memorial at Janesville and Main is a nine-foot column of polished Hurricane Island granite, saved from Chicago's old city hall, and inscribed: "ERECTED IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WAR 1914-1918." It was dedicated June 10, 1920, and may be the first tribute to veterans erected after the war. [2] [14]
