{"nrhp_refnum":"73002160","name":"McLean County Courthouse and Square","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main, Washington, Center, and Jefferson Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bloomington","county":"McLean County","state":"IL","lat":40.47782994700003,"lon":-88.99427767599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-02-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Classic Revival county courthouse with a dome, on a square block bounded by Main, Washington, Center and Jefferson Streets in Bloomington, Illinois. It was dedicated September 24, 1903 and designed by William Reeves of Reeves and Baillie of Peoria.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest examples of Classic Revival style in the Middle West, built as the style was beginning to spread after Chicago's Columbian Exposition. It was also designed to be fireproof after the earlier courthouse was damaged in the Great Fire of 1900. Its exterior and interior, including the circuit courtroom and rotunda, survive in largely original condition.","narrative":"Dedicated in 1903, the McLean County Courthouse occupies a landscaped square in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. Architect William Reeves of Reeves and Baillie, Peoria, designed the three-story Classic Revival building with a copper-covered dome. It replaced a courthouse that burned in the Great Fire of 1900, when heat from neighboring buildings ignited its wooden door and window frames and dome timbers. The county's Board of Supervisors demanded a fireproof replacement, so the dome is steel framed and encased in tile, the roof is poured concrete faced with tile, and the window and door frames are bronze-covered steel. Walls and columns are Bedford stone. Inside, the rotunda and halls keep their original mosaic floors, marble stairs and an allegorical painting in the dome. The circuit courtroom retains its dais, paneling, cut glass and hand-painted ceiling. The nomination describes it as the county's only large public building of real architectural significance and notes that it is in excellent, mostly original condition.","period_of_significance":"1900-1999","architect_builder":"William Reeves of Reeves and Baillie, Peoria, Illinois","architectural_style":"Classic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition, largely unaltered; owned by McLean County and used for government. Minor interior remodeling in a few rooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.905727-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/8936/28893657/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/73002160.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002160/4f040c51d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002160/4f040c51d4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Michael from Palatine, Illinois","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McLean_County_Courthouse_and_Square_(7436726814).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael from Palatine, Illinois</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McLean_County_Courthouse_and_Square_(7436726814).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893657","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLean_County_Courthouse_and_Square","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6802135"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/mclean-county/mclean-county-courthouse-and-square-73002160/"}