{"nrhp_refnum":"02000463","name":"Paxton Carnegie Public Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"254 S. Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Paxton","county":"Ford County","state":"IL","lat":40.46072658700007,"lon":-88.09848538799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-05-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick and stone Carnegie library at 254 South Market Street in downtown Paxton, Ford County, Illinois, designed by Paul A. Moratz of Bloomington and built by N. H. Pearson in 1903-1904.","why_significant":"The nomination finds it locally significant under Criterion A for education, for providing library services to Paxton residents, and under Criterion C as a local example of Classical Revival architecture. It meets the Carnegie Library property type defined in the Illinois Carnegie Libraries multiple property documentation and retains its integrity.","narrative":"Paxton's Carnegie library is a one-story beige brick and stone building on South Market Street, designed by Paul A. Moratz of Bloomington and built by N. H. Pearson. A $10,000 Carnegie grant was received in March 1903, and the library was dedicated on June 27, 1904. Earlier efforts, including a church library and a drugstore subscription library, had not lasted. The building has a gabled entrance with dentil molding, limestone pilasters, and a round corner tower topped with a copper-sheathed dome. Inside, a rotunda holds a half-circular wooden desk, wooden and marble columns, and a brick and wood fireplace. An elevator was added in 1991, and the children's library moved to the basement in 1997. It is recognized for education, because it has served Paxton and the surrounding area since 1904 and doubles as a community meeting place, and for architecture, as a local example of Classical Revival design comparable to the Ford County Courthouse.","period_of_significance":"1904-1951","architect_builder":"Moratz, Paul A., architect; Pearson, N.H., builder","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still serves as the city library today and is used as a community meeting space; the exterior and interior are described as relatively untouched apart from maintenance and upgrades.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.657018-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/8910/28891098/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/02000463.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000463/ce31c1175c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000463/ce31c1175c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"Dual Freq","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paxton_Illinois_Carnegie_Library.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dual Freq</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paxton_Illinois_Carnegie_Library.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891098","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxton_Carnegie_Public_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7156519"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/ford-county/paxton-carnegie-public-library-02000463/"}