{"nrhp_refnum":"79000855","name":"LeClaire Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by RR tracks, Wolf St., Hadley and Madison","address_restricted":false,"city":"Edwardsville","county":"Madison County","state":"IL","lat":38.80196685000007,"lon":-89.95048556797799,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 200-acre historic district in southeastern Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois, developed as the model industrial village of LeClaire between 1890 and 1895 by N.O. Nelson and the Nelson Manufacturing Company.","why_significant":"The district is significant as a planned company town distinguished by the social ideals of its founder, N.O. Nelson, who used it as a laboratory for profit sharing, worker ownership of homes, education and cultural programs. It was open to all, remained unincorporated until the 1930s, and was widely discussed in the period 1890-1920. It retains a cohesive streetscape, original street pattern, landscaping and wood frame buildings.","narrative":"LeClaire is a planned industrial village covering about 200 acres in southeastern Edwardsville, Illinois. N.O. Nelson and the Nelson Manufacturing Company, makers of commercial plumbing fixtures, built it between 1890 and 1895 on land purchased by a citizens' committee and deeded to the company. Nelson conceived it as a total community and a social experiment rather than a showpiece of paternalism. Workers could buy lots through company financing and have houses built near cost, while the company supplied garden plants, a school called the Academy, a lending library, a bowling alley and sports teams, all open to anyone. Nelson drew on profit sharing, the Ethical Culture movement and Edward Bellamy's ideas. Journalist Nellie Bly praised the village in 1894 by comparing it favorably with Pullman. The original street pattern, parkway trees and mostly wood frame houses survive, giving the area a cohesive character. Several factory buildings are now used by a university.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"C. A. (also given as E.A.) Cameron, St. Louis architect, laid out the residential area and designed the factory buildings; Julius Pitzman, surveyor and civil engineer, also credited with the factory design","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Most original plant buildings remain and are used by Southern Illinois University for offices and art classrooms; little vacant land remains, and many houses have been altered by siding or added rooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.880911-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/8935/28893574/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/79000855.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000855/3c52187c72-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000855/3c52187c72-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cottages_on_Holyoke,_Edwardsville.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cottages_on_Holyoke,_Edwardsville.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893574","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeClaire_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16894063"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/madison-county/leclaire-historic-district-79000855/"}