{"nrhp_refnum":"87002519","name":"Taylorville Chautauqua Auditorium","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Manners Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taylorville","county":"Christian County","state":"IL","lat":39.53967110900004,"lon":-89.29584549799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-01-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A sixteen-sided wooden Chautauqua auditorium with a steel truss roof in Manners Park, Taylorville, Christian County, Illinois, built by the Decatur Bridge Company and erected on the site in 1916 after being moved from Streator.","why_significant":"The auditorium housed Taylorville's Chautauqua assemblies from 1914 to 1928, part of a popular educational and cultural movement. Few communities built such halls, and it is one of only a few standing Chautauqua auditoriums in Illinois. Its umbrella-like steel truss roof clear-spans 130 feet from a central hub.","narrative":"Manners Park in Taylorville holds a sixteen-sided wooden auditorium nicknamed the \"steel umbrella.\" The Decatur Bridge Company built it, and the city and Chautauqua board bought it from Streator for $5,000 in 1916. It was taken apart and re-erected in the park in time for that August's assembly. Its roof hangs from steel trusses radiating from a central post, giving a clear span of 130 feet with only one interior pillar. Chautauqua programs of lectures and concerts ran here each year from 1914 through 1928, with speakers such as William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft and performers such as Sir Harry Lauder and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Later changes included a skating rink in the 1940s, a concrete floor in 1954 and a band shell in 1955. The roof and walls have since deteriorated. It is one of very few surviving Chautauqua auditoriums in Illinois, which is the basis for its listing.","period_of_significance":"1916-1928","architect_builder":"Decatur Bridge Co.","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in use as a park building; the form reports deterioration of the roof and walls, boarded-up windows, a 1954 concrete floor and a 1955 band shell.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.242285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/8918/28891854/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/87002519.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002519/bc283818a9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002519/bc283818a9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taylorville_Chautauqua_Auditorium.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taylorville_Chautauqua_Auditorium.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891854","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorville_Chautauqua_Auditorium","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18158660"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/christian-county/taylorville-chautauqua-auditorium-87002519/"}