{"nrhp_refnum":"86001480","name":"Villa Avenue Train Station","other_names":["Villa Park Historical Society Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"220 S. Villa Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Villa Park","county":"DuPage County","state":"IL","lat":41.89493836100007,"lon":-87.97045336399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-08-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-story Tudor Revival railway station at 220 South Villa Avenue in Villa Park, DuPage County, Illinois, built in 1929 by the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway. It now houses the Villa Park Historical Society Museum.","why_significant":"The station was the only one on the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin line to combine a passenger waiting room and a business office and showroom in one building. It is a good example of Tudor Revival architecture with limestone arches and half-timbered, stuccoed gables. The railroad drove the residential and industrial growth of Villa Park, which became the line's largest commuter customer.","narrative":"Built between August and November 1929 for the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway, this one-story station on South Villa Avenue in Villa Park measures 28 by 104 feet. It is made of wood, stucco and limestone in the Tudor Revival style, with rough-cut limestone arches, half-timbered gables and patterned stucco-and-wood lintels. Alone among the line's stations, it held both a passenger waiting room, in the western half, and a Western United Gas and Electric Company office and showroom, in the eastern half. It replaced two small waiting rooms across the street. The interurban line helped shape Villa Park by carrying buyers to new subdivisions around 1910 and by serving commuters and workers at the Ovaltine plant, making the village the railway's largest commuter customer. Only three of the line's seventy-three stations survive. The village bought the building in 1976, and it became the historical society's museum in 1979. Alterations have been minor, mostly maintenance and replacement windows.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1929)","architect_builder":"Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway (apparently designed in the office of the railway's Chief Engineer)","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Owned by the Village of Villa Park and in use as the Villa Park Historical Society Museum and visitor center for the Illinois Prairie Path. Condition is good, with minor alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.552437-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/84/8927/28892784/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86001480.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001480/b53c261b08-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001480/b53c261b08-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Swimpg at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VillaParkStation.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Swimpg at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VillaParkStation.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892784","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Avenue_station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7930273"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/dupage-county/villa-avenue-train-station-86001480/"}