{"nrhp_refnum":"71000297","name":"Lindsay, Vachel, House","other_names":["Vachel Lindsay Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"603 S. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Sangamon County","state":"IL","lat":39.79587892400008,"lon":-89.64982900999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-11-11","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1971-11-11","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame house at 603 South Fifth Street in Springfield, Illinois, built in 1848 and later remodeled by the Lindsay family. It is now operated as the Vachel Lindsay Museum.","why_significant":"It is the birthplace and lifelong home of poet Vachel Lindsay, who was born there in 1879 and died there in 1931. Lindsay was a major figure in America's early twentieth-century poetic renaissance. The house remains largely unchanged since his time and holds many of his drawings, writings and possessions.","narrative":"Built in 1848, this two-story frame house at 603 South Fifth Street in Springfield was purchased by Vachel Lindsay's father in 1878, and the poet was born there the following year. The Lindsays later remodeled it, and the golden oak woodwork and doorway date from that period, though the Greek Revival entrance frame is original. Its scale and proportions resemble the nearby Abraham Lincoln Home, designed by the same architect-builder. Lindsay lived here until leaving for college in 1897, returned in 1908, and made it his base between travels until his mother's death in 1922. He came back in 1929 and died in the house in 1931. Lindsay became one of the leading voices of America's poetic renaissance with works such as The Congo. The house keeps his drawings, furnishings and memorabilia, and has served as a museum since 1960.","period_of_significance":"1879-1931","architect_builder":"Same architect-builder as the nearby Abraham Lincoln Home (not named in the text)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival architrave on a remodeled frame house with later Victorian interior","criteria":[],"status_note":"Open to the public as a house museum since 1960; owned by the Vachel Lindsay House Fund, Inc. and leased to the Vachel Lindsay Association. Condition listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.930286-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/40/8916/28891640/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/71000297_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000297/1b3070b477-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000297/1b3070b477-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Zol87","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vachel_Lindsay_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Zol87</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:Vachel_Lindsay_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891640","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachel_Lindsay_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7908001"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/sangamon-county/lindsay-vachel-house-71000297/"}