{"nrhp_refnum":"96000876","name":"Odd Fellows Opera Block","other_names":["Odd Fellows Hall","Ellisville Opera House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Main and Mechanic Sts., SW corner","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ellisville","county":"Fulton County","state":"IL","lat":40.62673338400003,"lon":-90.30461198099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-08-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial and opera house building at the southwest corner of Main and Mechanics Streets in Ellisville, Fulton County, Illinois, built in 1891 by the Spoon River #78 Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be locally significant under Criterion A for entertainment/recreation. It represents the late 19th and early 20th century demand among small rural communities for a specialized theatrical facility. Ellisville never exceeded about 1,000 people yet supported an opera house that also served as a community gathering place.","narrative":"Ellisville's Odd Fellows Opera Block is a plain two-story brick building at Main and Mechanics Streets, measuring about 45 by 75 feet. The Spoon River #78 Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows built it in 1891 after a fire destroyed several buildings on the block. W. H. Parkins designed it and T. M. Mercer built it. The ground floor held two equal storerooms, with two basement rooms below, while the second floor contained an opera hall seating about 120, with a stage, trap door, footlight trough and a painted roll drop curtain advertising local businesses. Later the lodge and the Rebekahs used the building as their regular meeting place. It was listed for its role in entertainment and recreation: the opera house gave a village that never exceeded about 1,000 residents a venue for theatricals, public meetings and social life. The period of significance runs from 1891 to 1946. A local restoration group began work in 1994 with a new roof and structural repairs.","period_of_significance":"1891-1946","architect_builder":"Parkins, W. H., Architect; Mercer, T. M., Builder","architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Restoration work was under way; a new roof was installed in December 1994, while windows, doors, plaster ceilings and walls still needed repair. Current functions are listed as work in progress.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.195066-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/8928/28892886/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/96000876.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000876/c39651e8a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000876/c39651e8a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jim Roberts","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odd_Fellows_Opera_Block.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Roberts</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odd_Fellows_Opera_Block.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892886","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Fellows_Opera_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23822830"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/fulton-county/odd-fellows-opera-block-96000876/"}