{"nrhp_refnum":"95000987","name":"Kankakee State Hospital Historic District","other_names":["Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane","Governor Samuel H."],"category":"district","location":{"address":"100 E. Jeffery St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kankakee","county":"Kankakee County","state":"IL","lat":41.10369393700006,"lon":-87.8622683784222,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-08-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 119 nominated acres on the Kankakee River in Kankakee, Illinois, made up of a state hospital complex begun in 1878. It has 18 contributing buildings and one contributing structure, including the Kirkbride-plan Administration Center and detached cottages.","why_significant":"The district shows how care for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled changed over a century, from the Kirkbride single-building plan to the detached cottage plan, which the nomination says was the first of its kind in the United States. It has buildings by architect James R. Willett, state architects and Holabird and Root, and a landscape plan by H.W.S. Cleveland. Psychologist Adolf Meyer worked here and reformers such as Dorothea Dix and John Dewey were involved.","narrative":"Kankakee State Hospital Historic District occupies the south bank of the Kankakee River in Kankakee, Illinois. Designed in 1878 as the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, it grew from 251 acres to about 2,000, and 119 acres with the historic buildings are nominated. Its centerpiece is the Administration Center of 1879, a four-story limestone building with a seven-story tower, designed by Chicago architect James R. Willett on the Kirkbride plan. Nearby stand detached cottages, which the nomination describes as the first of their kind in the United States and which replaced the single-building model. H.W.S. Cleveland laid out winding roads, an oval lawn and tree groves. Yellow Joliet limestone unifies the early buildings, while later ones are mostly red brick with Classical details. Adolf Meyer practiced here in the 1890s, and the grounds record changing approaches to mental health care. The complex remains in use as a developmental center, with a museum in the tower.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"James R. Willett (principal buildings); H.W.S. Cleveland (landscape); William Carbys Zimmerman and C. Herrick Hammond (state architects); Edgar Martin (supervising architect); Holabird and Root (newer units)","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival; Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a developmental center; the Administration Center tower holds a museum and administrative offices, though some wing portions are unused.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.325113-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/8932/28893251/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/95000987.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000987/2cc4f27609-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000987/2cc4f27609-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kankakee_Hospital.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kankakee_Hospital.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893251","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankakee_State_Hospital","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6363591"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kankakee-county/kankakee-state-hospital-historic-district-95000987/"}