{"nrhp_refnum":"78001192","name":"Illinois Traction System Mackinaw Depot","other_names":["Company Depot","Substation"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mackinaw","county":"Tazewell County","state":"IL","lat":40.53932285700006,"lon":-89.35986225199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick interurban depot and electrical substation on North Main Street in Mackinaw, Tazewell County, Illinois, built in 1909-1910 for the Illinois Traction System to standard McKinley Lines plans. Architect unknown.","why_significant":"It is described as one of a few surviving examples of Illinois Traction System (McKinley) Spanish-style architecture in Illinois and the least altered from its original function as an interurban depot/substation. It is the surviving remnant of the Mackinaw Junction operations, whose other buildings were torn down. It reflects the interurban era and the system's contribution to transportation, employment, industry and electricity in central Illinois.","narrative":"Built in 1909-1910 on North Main Street in Mackinaw, Illinois, this brick depot served the Illinois Traction System, a 550-mile electric interurban network, as both a passenger-freight station and a power substation. It replaced an old boxcar used as the first depot. The building follows standard McKinley Lines plans and has a red Ludowici tile hip roof, buff brick walls above a pitch-faced red brick base, and steel roof trusses. Inside were a waiting room and ticket office, freight room, lineman's room and a machinery room that converted alternating current to direct current for the line. It was used as a station from 1910 to 1953 and as a substation from 1927 to 1955. Nearby Mackinaw Junction, where lines to Peoria, Bloomington, Lincoln and Springfield met, lost all its buildings, leaving this depot as a rare and little-altered survivor of Spanish-style interurban architecture in Illinois. At listing, roof, brick and floor damage was noted.","period_of_significance":"1909-1910","architect_builder":"Architect - unknown","architectural_style":"Spanish style (ITS/ITC McKinley System)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form checks occupied, unaltered, original site, and deteriorated. Roof, brickwork, soffit and floors show damage. Owned by a utility company.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.57391-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/8941/28894188/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/78001192.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001192/85c9442439-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001192/85c9442439-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Ammodramus","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mackinaw,_Illinois_depot_from_NE.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ammodramus</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mackinaw,_Illinois_depot_from_NE.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894188","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinaw_station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15228374"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/tazewell-county/illinois-traction-system-mackinaw-depot-78001192/"}