{"nrhp_refnum":"78001139","name":"Hofmann Tower","other_names":["Lyons Tower"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"3910 Barry Point Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lyons","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.820711335000055,"lon":-87.82194896999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-story steel and cast concrete tower, 34 by 34 feet, at 3910 Barry Point Road in Lyons, Cook County, Illinois, on the south bank of the Des Plaines River. It was built in 1908 for brewer and inventor George Hofmann and is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the tower is significant as a relic and former focal point of an early twentieth-century recreation complex, an amusement park along the Des Plaines River. It served as a scenic lookout, housed dam and flood gate machinery, and acted as a landmark advertising Hofmann's park. Its concrete and steel construction also represented an advance in building technology.","narrative":"Rising eight stories above the south bank of the Des Plaines River in Lyons, Illinois, this steel and cast concrete tower was completed in 1908 for brewer and inventor George Hofmann. Crenelated parapets and four octagonal turrets give it the look of a medieval castle. It anchored a riverside amusement complex that included picnic groves, boat docks, a dance hall, a night club and a band shell. Lower levels held machinery for a dam and four flood gates, while upper levels served as a lookout. Illuminated by hundreds of electric lights, it also worked as an advertisement for the park, visible for miles across the prairie. Pollution of the river by raw waste ended the park, and the tower closed to the public in 1920. Later it stored some of Hofmann's inventions before the Cook County Forest Preserve District bought it in 1946. It is recognized as the surviving symbol of an early recreation complex.","period_of_significance":"1908-1920","architect_builder":"H. W. Sauber Construction Company (builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair; windows and frames removed in 1954, lower window openings and a doorway bricked in, and the north iron staircase partly removed. Closed to the public in 1920 and sold to the Forest Preserve District in 1946.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.550038-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/53/8926/28892653/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/78001139.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001139/9134d203a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001139/9134d203a9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HofmannTower.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08 at en.wikipedia</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:HofmannTower.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892653","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofmann_Tower","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5876805"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/hofmann-tower-78001139/"}