{"nrhp_refnum":"96000081","name":"Allen School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"301 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"LaMoille","county":"Bureau County","state":"IL","lat":41.52965523300003,"lon":-89.28009146099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Allen School is a brick school building at 301 Main Street on the village square in LaMoille, Bureau County, Illinois, built in 1887 and designed by architect Joseph Bryant with builder T. H. Culwell, with a gymnasium added in 1941.","why_significant":"The nomination argues local significance in education under Criterion A. The school was funded by a bequest from farmer Joseph Allen and served as the village's grade school and high school until 1955. It also hosted civic and social events until 1921 and remains little changed in appearance.","narrative":"Allen School is a four-level reddish-brown brick schoolhouse on the south half of the village square in LaMoille, Illinois. Completed in 1887 to designs by Princeton architect Joseph Bryant and built by T. H. Culwell, it has a square plan, a hipped roof with projecting gables, bracketed cornices, limestone trim and a central slate-roofed tower holding a bell first forged in 1858. A yellow tile block gymnasium was added in 1941. The school was paid for by a $35,000 trust left by local farmer Joseph Allen, who died in 1887. It served as both grade school and high school until 1955 and drew students from nearby towns. Its assembly hall doubled as a civic center until 1921. The exterior and interior have changed little, and the building still operates as a school, with the bell still rung twice daily. Its role in the community's education supports its local significance from 1887 to 1945.","period_of_significance":"1887 - 1945","architect_builder":"Bryant, Joseph, Architect; Cullwell, T.H., Builder","architectural_style":"Late Victorian; Moderne","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still in use as a school, housing the district's kindergarten and 4th through 8th grades; described as in excellent condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.599589-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/8917/28891754/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/96000081.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000081/35ce3e30e1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000081/35ce3e30e1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Boscophotos","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image_Allen_School.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Boscophotos</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Image_Allen_School.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891754","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_School_(La_Moille,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25209305"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/bureau-county/allen-school-96000081/"}