{"nrhp_refnum":"05001605","name":"Kewanee Hotel","other_names":["Parkside Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"125 N. Chestnut","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kewanee","county":"Henry County","state":"IL","lat":41.24576030000003,"lon":-89.92843911899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick hotel at 125 North Chestnut Street in Kewanee, Henry County, Illinois, built in 1916 as the Parkside Hotel, with an addition in 1931 and a non-contributing motel addition from 1976.","why_significant":"The form presents the hotel as a well-preserved example of an early twentieth-century urban commercial hotel in a simplified Classical Revival design. It also became the civic and social center of Kewanee, hosting the Chamber of Commerce, public meetings and the founding of the Park District. Its history reflects the hotel boom of the World War I era and the rise of automobile travel.","narrative":"Rising four stories on North Chestnut Street in downtown Kewanee, Illinois, this hotel opened in 1916 as the Parkside Hotel. A matching addition followed in 1931, extending the street front by five bays. The design is a simplified Classical Revival, organized like a column into base, shaft and capital, with a galvanized metal denticulated cornice, corner quoins and arched storefront openings at street level. Dark textured tapestry brick contrasts with smooth, light glazed brick accents. A 1976 motel wing, built after most of the 1931 ballroom was demolished, is considered non-contributing. Together the buildings enclose a landscaped courtyard. The hotel mattered to the town as much as to travelers. The local Chamber of Commerce moved its headquarters inside, and community meetings, planning committees and the founding of the Kewanee Park District took place there. Advertisements aimed at motorists show how the hotel courted automobile tourists during a period when American hotels were thriving.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as still in hotel use; the 1976 motel addition is noted as non-contributing, and the 1931 ballroom was mostly demolished in 1975.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.035646-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/8929/28892986/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/05001605.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001605/094ef40bc9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001605/094ef40bc9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Boscophotos","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image_Historic_Kewanee_Hotel.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Boscophotos</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image_Historic_Kewanee_Hotel.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892986","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Kewanee","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5911652"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/henry-county/kewanee-hotel-05001605/"}