{"nrhp_refnum":"82002541","name":"New Piasa Chautauqua Historic District","other_names":["Chautauqua"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Off McAdams Pkwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chautauqua","county":"Jersey County","state":"IL","lat":38.967757872500044,"lon":-90.3829098943551,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A summer cottage community and Chautauqua assembly ground in a narrow wooded valley between limestone bluffs on the Mississippi River, about thirteen miles north of Alton in Jersey County, Illinois. It was founded in 1885 and has 135 structures.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a living relic of the Chautauqua movement, a nineteenth-century social institution rooted in the Lyceum movement and revival camp meetings. Most such Chautauquas disappeared in the twentieth century, but this one has kept its summer program and community life essentially unchanged for about ninety-five years. Its isolated setting is credited for that survival.","narrative":"New Piasa Chautauqua is a summer community of 135 structures tucked into a narrow, wooded valley between limestone bluffs on the Illinois bank of the Mississippi, north of Alton. Founded in 1885 by Methodist-affiliated committees from southern Illinois and St. Louis as a western counterpart to the original Chautauqua in New York, it combined religious, educational and scientific programs with a summer resort. Most buildings are one- and two-story frame cottages, many dating from before about 1912, alongside community buildings such as an auditorium, chapel, swimming pool and the Piasa (Sherer's) Spring. Fires in 1919 and 1957 caused the main losses, yet early photographs show the grounds largely unchanged. The district was recognized because it survives as a working example of a once-widespread institution, continuing its annual program of events while most similar assemblies faded after the First World War. Its natural setting gave it a balance of access and isolation.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"Varcous","architectural_style":"No formal style stated; the form says the architecture is largely unremarkable and describes simple, rectangular, two-story frame cottages with large screened porches as a possible \"Chautauqua\" style.","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and still operating as a Chautauqua with an annual summer program. Fires in 1919 destroyed the Chautauqua Inn and in 1957 destroyed seventeen cottages. Condition is described as good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.990113-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/59/8930/28893059/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/82002541.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002541/10fa13dedd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002541/10fa13dedd-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Piasa_Chautauqua.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Piasa_Chautauqua.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893059","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua,_Illinois","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5088379"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/jersey-county/new-piasa-chautauqua-historic-district-82002541/"}