{"nrhp_refnum":"80001354","name":"Paxton First Schoolhouse","other_names":["Corbett House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"406 E. Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Paxton","county":"Ford County","state":"IL","lat":40.449934589000065,"lon":-88.09650531099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-01-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story frame schoolhouse with a brick-walled basement at 406 East Franklin Street in Paxton, Ford County, Illinois, built in the winter of 1856-57. It is also known as the Corbett House.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it has local historical significance as the oldest surviving structure in Paxton and one of the oldest in Ford County. It served as a school, church and meeting hall for the earliest families. It is a rare link to the beginnings of community life, since fewer than half a dozen structures from the 1850s and 1860s are known in the county.","narrative":"Built in the winter of 1856-57, Paxton's first schoolhouse is a one-story frame building with a brick-walled basement at 406 East Franklin Street. Its oak frame, with walnut rafters, uses balloon framing and mortise and tenon joints. The original siding and wooden shingle roof survive beneath asphalt siding and composition shingles, and the hair plaster walls and pine floors remain inside. A small frame extension was added to the east side in 1862 or 1863. The building served as a school, a church and a meeting hall, and early Methodist circuit riders used it. It gathered the first families of the area, including the Stites, Pattons, Dobbs and Dunhams. After the school was outgrown in the 1860s, it was sold and became a dwelling. It is considered the oldest surviving structure in Paxton and one of the oldest in Ford County, where only a handful of buildings from the 1850s and 1860s are known. Later alterations are largely superficial and reversible.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked occupied and used as a private residence; condition rated excellent or good, with the original siding and roof covered by later materials.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.535132-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/49/8928/28892849/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/80001354.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001354/f8daed5e86-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001354/f8daed5e86-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paxton_First_Schoolhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paxton_First_Schoolhouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892849","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxton_First_Schoolhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7156522"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/ford-county/paxton-first-schoolhouse-80001354/"}