{"nrhp_refnum":"86002008","name":"Patton, John, Log Cabin","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lexington Park District Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"McLean County","state":"IL","lat":40.648534116000064,"lon":-88.77993752899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-08-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A hewn log cabin built in 1829 by John Patton, now standing in Lexington Park District Park in Lexington, McLean County, Illinois. It was moved from a farm about three miles southeast of the park and reassembled there.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cabin is significant in the exploration and settlement of Central Illinois. It is described as the only surviving structure in the area associated with white and Native American contact, and with the organization of McLean County government. It served as a polling place in 1831 and hosted the county's first Methodist class.","narrative":"A small hewn log cabin in Lexington Park District Park, Lexington, Illinois, preserves the memory of one of McLean County's earliest settlers. John Patton built it in 1829 near a Kickapoo village, and the cabin raising on June 10 drew ten white settlers along with Kickapoo and Delaware participants. In 1831 county commissioners named it the polling place for Mackinaw Precinct, which covered 684 square miles, and it later hosted the county's first Methodist class. Later owners added a log block house in 1832 and joined it to the cabin in 1840. Moved in 1904 and used as a barn, it was disassembled in 1965 and rebuilt in the park in 1969. Because many logs were too deteriorated to return to their original positions, some interpretive errors were made, and corrections were planned. It is listed for its role in settlement and early county government, and it now serves as a museum furnished with ca. 1835 items.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"John Patton","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered and moved; reassembled in 1969 and used as a museum with a ca. 1835 period room. Corrective work was planned for 1983. Condition is listed as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.757112-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/8936/28893699/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86002008.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002008/7b6d0ebb74-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002008/7b6d0ebb74-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lexington_Il_John_Patton_Log_Cabin2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lexington_Il_John_Patton_Log_Cabin2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893699","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Patton_Log_Cabin","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6252158"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/mclean-county/patton-john-log-cabin-86002008/"}