{"nrhp_refnum":"96000096","name":"Morton, Asher, Farmstead","other_names":["Neal House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lower Terre Haute Rd., 4.5 mi. S of Paris, US 150","address_restricted":false,"city":"Paris","county":"Edgar County","state":"IL","lat":39.53902066100005,"lon":-87.64389522299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A working farmstead about 4.5 miles south of Paris in Elbridge Township, Edgar County, Illinois, centered on a two-story frame I-house, a summer kitchen and a hay barn built by Asher Morton around 1860.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the Morton house as a locally significant example of Greek Revival influence, with some Gothic Revival picturesque detailing in its wave-like vergeboards. It also credits Asher Morton's carpentry skill, visible in the interior woodwork, and counts the summer kitchen and hay barn as representative nineteenth-century farm buildings.","narrative":"Asher Morton Farmstead lies on the Lower Terre Haute Road about four and a half miles south of Paris, Edgar County, Illinois. Asher Morton built the core of the farm around 1860: a two-story frame house, a board-and-batten summer kitchen and a hay barn with hand-hewn mortise-and-tenon framing. The farm has been worked continuously and has gained later buildings, including a second barn, garages, a windmill and a cattle pen. These are counted as noncontributing, though some are historic. The house shows Greek Revival influence in its symmetrical three-bay front, pilasters, wide plain frieze, sidelit entrance and classically inspired fireplaces. Its wave-like vergeboards suggest Gothic Revival inspiration. The interior woodwork is credited to Morton's carpentry skill. A kitchen wing was added around 1890. The period of significance, c. 1860 to the 1890s, covers the original construction and that addition. The property stayed in the Morton family until 1959.","period_of_significance":"c. 1860 to c. 1890s","architect_builder":"Asher Morton","architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Other: I-House","criteria":[],"status_note":"Continuously used as a working farm; the house remains a residence with additions and modern alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.785464-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/13/8928/28892813/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/96000096.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000096/414436a5f2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000096/414436a5f2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asher_Morton_Farmstead_near_Paris.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asher_Morton_Farmstead_near_Paris.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892813","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asher_Morton_Farmstead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4804850"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/edgar-county/morton-asher-farmstead-96000096/"}