{"nrhp_refnum":"08000504","name":"Village of Davis Junction Town Hall","other_names":["Scott Township Hall","Union Hall","Bushman hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"202 Pacific Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Davis Junction","county":"Ogle County","state":"IL","lat":42.100159759000064,"lon":-89.09838622999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-06-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story, false-fronted vernacular town hall at 202 Pacific Avenue in Davis Junction, Ogle County, Illinois, likely built in 1876 as Union Hall. It later served as Scott Township Hall and was nicknamed Bushman Hall.","why_significant":"The building is the only municipal structure left from Davis Junction's early years as a railroad town and is tied to the governmental administration of Scott Township beginning in the 1870s. It was also the main gathering place for clubs, dances and socials from the late nineteenth century through much of the twentieth. It is presented as a good example of a rural town hall.","narrative":"Union Hall, later Scott Township Hall and known locally as Bushman Hall, is a small one-story frame building at 202 Pacific Avenue in Davis Junction, Illinois. It measures about 22 by 40 feet, has a gable roof and a raised false front with a semicircular window above the double doors. Clapboard siding survives beneath a later asbestos covering, and the interior is a single large meeting room. The hall was likely built in 1876, a year after the village was platted by Jeremiah Davis. It is the only municipal building left from the era when Davis Junction was a growing railroad town. Scott Township held meetings there from 1877 and bought the building and lot in 1907-1908. The hall also served as the community's social center, hosting dances, club meetings and socials, and the Modern Woodmen of America rented it until 1930. It was the site of the 1894 'Dance Wars.' Its significance is recognized for the period 1877 to 1958.","period_of_significance":"1877-1958","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival (as classified on the form); described in the text as a vernacular false-fronted building","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Current function listed as museum; the township sold the building in 1993, and the owner plans to restore the clapboard beneath the asbestos siding.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.544867-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/8938/28893817/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/08000504.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000504/4b1ea1df29-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000504/4b1ea1df29-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Village_of_Davis_Junction_Town_Hall.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08</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:Village_of_Davis_Junction_Town_Hall.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893817","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_of_Davis_Junction_Town_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16902741"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/ogle-county/village-of-davis-junction-town-hall-08000504/"}