{"nrhp_refnum":"96000089","name":"LeRoy Commercial Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"111-123, 200-223, 300 Center and 106-118 Chestnut Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"LeRoy","county":"McLean County","state":"IL","lat":40.347268415500025,"lon":-88.74903080455327,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small-town commercial historic district in LeRoy, McLean County, Illinois, covering blocks 100-300 East Center Street and 100 North Chestnut Street plus the Town Park. It holds 27 contributing resources, mostly two-story brick commercial buildings from about 1870 to 1928.","why_significant":"The district preserves a cross-section of commercial architecture from 1870-1928, including Italianate, Queen Anne and Classical Revival buildings. Because LeRoy grew slowly, its early commercial buildings survive in greater proportion than in larger cities. The Town Park, with its Osaketa statue and band pavilion, forms the western end of the business area.","narrative":"LeRoy, a farming town of about 2,800 people southeast of Bloomington, retains a compact business district along East Center and North Chestnut streets. Most of its buildings are two-story red brick structures with load-bearing masonry walls, built between 1870 and 1928. The earliest show Italianate features such as round-head upper windows and bracketed cornices, followed by Queen Anne and other eclectic designs, and early twentieth-century Classical Revival work. Notable examples include the 1884 First National Bank, the 1907 Odd Fellows Building, rebuilt after a fire, and the 1919 LeRoy State Bank with its Ionic portico, designed by Arthur L. Pillsbury. The 1903 Town Hall and the Town Park anchor the western end. The park contains a 1912 bronze statue of the Kickapoo chief Osaketa and a 1922 octagonal band pavilion. Because the town never experienced rapid growth cycles, many early commercial buildings survive, giving the district a consistent character. Twenty-seven resources contribute and two do not.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Arthur L. Pillsbury (architect, LeRoy State Bank); English Bros. Construction Co.; J. E. Buckles (contractor, Town Hall)","architectural_style":"Italianate, Queen Anne, Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mixed current use: shops, offices, restaurants, town hall and park; the How Building at 213-217 E. Center was razed in April 1995 and one building at 219 E. Center is vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.426631-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/8936/28893671/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/96000089.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000089/dba4415fb9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000089/dba4415fb9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Esvobod2","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeRoy_Commercial_Historic_District.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Esvobod2</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:LeRoy_Commercial_Historic_District.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893671","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Roy_Commercial_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6507615"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/mclean-county/leroy-commercial-historic-district-96000089/"}