{"nrhp_refnum":"88002236","name":"Vermont Masonic Hall","other_names":["Vermont Hardware Store Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Vermont","county":"Fulton County","state":"IL","lat":40.29503934500008,"lon":-90.42754219299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial and lodge building, 33 by 110 feet, on the east side of Main Street in Vermont, Fulton County, Illinois, built in 1891-92. It has a hardware store on the ground floor and Masonic lodge rooms above.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its ornate High Victorian Gothic sheet iron facade, ordered from a Galesburg manufacturer, and for its almost entirely original lodge room interior with pressed metal walls and ceiling. It also reflects the importance of fraternal orders, especially the Masons, in the social life of a small rural Illinois village.","narrative":"Built in 1891-92 on Main Street in Vermont, Illinois, this two-story brick building combines a ground-floor hardware store with Masonic lodge rooms upstairs. The store has operated continuously since construction. Its front is covered in a lead-coated sheet iron facade in a High Victorian Gothic style, ordered from a Galesburg manufacturer, with columns, a projecting polygonal bay, stained glass clerestory windows and a pointed-arch parapet. Inside, the main lodge room keeps its pressed sheet metal walls and coffered ceiling, ordered from a Chicago firm in 1892, along with original carpeting, furniture and gilding. The Masons contracted for a ninety-nine year lease of the second floor, built above a hardware store being erected by Edmond B. Nelson. The hall reflects the place of fraternal orders in small-town life, including the Eastern Star auxiliary chartered in 1892. It retains a high degree of integrity in design, materials and workmanship.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Gothic; Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements/Commercial style","criteria":[],"status_note":"The hardware store has operated continuously on the ground floor since construction, and the second-floor lodge rooms remain in Masonic use. Second-floor windows need restoration.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.865728-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/80/8928/28892880/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/88002236.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002236/050dc59916-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002236/050dc59916-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jim Roberts","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vermont_Masonic_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Roberts</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vermont_Masonic_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892880","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont_Masonic_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14688156"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/fulton-county/vermont-masonic-hall-88002236/"}