{"nrhp_refnum":"93000839","name":"Memorial Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10308 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond","county":"McHenry County","state":"IL","lat":42.47556748900007,"lon":-88.30603582999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Memorial Hall is a two-story rectangular brick building at 10308 Main Street in Richmond, McHenry County, Illinois, built in 1907 by builder Fred Arp with a bequest from Charles McConnell.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is locally significant under Criterion A for its role in Richmond's village government, which met and kept offices there. It is also significant as a center for recreation and entertainment, hosting school basketball, youth groups, community events, plays and movies.","narrative":"Memorial Hall is a two-story brick building on Main Street in Richmond, Illinois, completed in 1907. It was funded by a $10,000 bequest from Charles DeWitt McConnell, whose will called for a village hall to be named Memorial Hall and used free of charge for church and school functions. Fred Arp is named as builder. The building has an orange-yellow brick facade with limestone trim, a gable roof, a basement meeting room and offices, and an upper auditorium with stage and balcony. For decades it housed village government, including the police station and jail from 1934, and served as a polling place. It also became a community gathering place. The high school used it for basketball from 1919 until a new school opened in 1949. The Y.M.C.A., Boy Scouts, Women's Club and American Legion met there, and it hosted graduations, dances, class plays, movies and a traveling theater troupe. Its significance period runs from 1907 to 1943.","period_of_significance":"1907-1943","architect_builder":"Arp, Fred, builder","architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Condition described as excellent, with excellent integrity; the building has an upper-level auditorium and a lower-level meeting room and offices. The stage front was rebuilt in 1992 for high school theater productions.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.421762-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/46/8936/28893646/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/93000839.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000839/42c76fc8bf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/93000839/42c76fc8bf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmond_Il_Memorial_Hall8.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:Richmond_Il_Memorial_Hall8.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893646","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Hall_(Richmond,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6815435"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/mchenry-county/memorial-hall-93000839/"}