{"nrhp_refnum":"94000973","name":"Illinois Central Railroad and Toledo, Peoria, and Western Railroad Freight House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8--10 E. Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Paso","county":"Woodford County","state":"IL","lat":40.737983041000064,"lon":-89.01562068599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, L-shaped, wood-framed railroad freight house at 8-10 East Front Street in El Paso, Woodford County, Illinois, built in 1890 at the crossing of the Illinois Central and Toledo, Peoria, and Western rail lines.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it meets Criterion A for its role in El Paso's transportation history from 1890 to 1944. It served both railroads as the shipping point for local industries, businesses, residents and area farmers. It is the last remaining building associated with the two railroad lines in El Paso.","narrative":"Built in 1890 at the southeast corner of the crossing of the Illinois Central and Toledo, Peoria, and Western railroads, this L-shaped wood freight house handled all incoming and outgoing freight for El Paso. It replaced an earlier freight house destroyed by fire in 1889. Inside, a diagonal party wall divided the offices of the two railroads, which each kept freight agents there. Walls are horizontal drop siding, the roof is gabled with slate and asphalt shingles, and wide wooden loading docks run along the north and west sides. Local lumber yards, a brick works, a canning company, a creamery and other businesses shipped goods through the building, along with area farmers. Highway paving in the late 1920s and 1930s brought railroad decline, though freight operations continued into the 1960s. It is the last remaining building tied to both rail lines in the town, which grew up around their crossing. The building is now vacant and needs roof and exterior repairs.","period_of_significance":"1890-1944","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Currently vacant, with the roof and exterior in need of repair; owned by the City of El Paso.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.784434-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/8944/28894445/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/94000973.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000973/49cc4dc480-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000973/49cc4dc480-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"TheCatalyst31","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railroad_depot,_El_Paso,_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">TheCatalyst31</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railroad_depot,_El_Paso,_IL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894445","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso_freight_station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24061409"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/woodford-county/illinois-central-railroad-and-toledo-peoria-and-western-railroad-freight-house-94000973/"}