{"nrhp_refnum":"75000642","name":"Cattle Bank","other_names":["Heimlicher's Drug Store"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"102 E. University Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Champaign","county":"Champaign County","state":"IL","lat":40.11659941500005,"lon":-88.23852354499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial building at 102 East University Avenue in Champaign, Illinois, built about the late 1850s as a branch of the Grand Prairie Bank. It later served as a grocery and a drug store.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building reflects the cattle-marketing economy of the prairie before the railroad, when the Cattle Bank served local cattlemen as a branch of Urbana's first bank. It is also described as the oldest remaining business building in Champaign.","narrative":"Built around the late 1850s at what is now 102 East University Avenue in Champaign, this two-story brick building began as the Cattle Bank, a branch of the Grand Prairie Bank of Urbana. It was opened to serve cattlemen who raised herds on the surrounding prairies and had driven them overland to Indianapolis or Chicago. The railroad promised quicker shipment to Chicago and the banking and loan business that went with it. The bank closed around 1861 after a failed investment in Missouri bonds. The building later housed mineral water manufacturing, a grocery and, from 1936 to 1971, a drug store. A fire in 1971 damaged the interior, and the building has since stood boarded up. The second floor, window ornamentation, roof and dentil cornice remain largely original, and original tin ceilings survive inside. It is recognized as the oldest remaining business building in Champaign.","period_of_significance":"Late 1850s (19th century)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Fire in 1971 damaged the interior and the building was not repaired or reopened; the first floor windows and doors were boarded up. The form describes the interior as deteriorating and the building as vacant.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.513992-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/8917/28891782/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000642.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000642/1ce72d4e4f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000642/1ce72d4e4f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0 us","author":"Dori","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cattle_Bank_Champaign_Illinois_4259.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dori</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0 us</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cattle_Bank_Champaign_Illinois_4259.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891782","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_Bank","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17515086"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/champaign-county/cattle-bank-75000642/"}