{"nrhp_refnum":"98000985","name":"Lincoln Colored Home","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"427 S. Twelfth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Sangamon County","state":"IL","lat":39.79758461600005,"lon":-89.63981595499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-08-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick building at 427 South Twelfth Street in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, completed in 1904 to replace an earlier house on the site. It was built as an orphanage and home for elderly African American residents, and its architect and builder are unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the home is locally significant under Criterion A for social history, as a representative orphanage in the development of congregate child care in Illinois in the early 1900s. It is described as the first orphanage for African American children in Illinois. It was founded by Eva Carroll Monroe in 1898 with support from Mary Lawrence, and it served as a center of Black community activity until it ceased operating as an orphanage in 1933.","narrative":"This two-story brick building at 427 South Twelfth Street in Springfield was built in 1904 as the Lincoln Colored Home, an orphanage and home for elderly African American residents. Eva Carroll Monroe began the work in 1896 after finding children on the street who were turned away by a whites-only orphanage. She opened the first home on this site in 1898. Mary Lawrence, the wife of a former mayor, helped secure the mortgage, raised funds, and donated brick, windows, doors and stained glass for the new house. The building has load-bearing brick walls three wythes thick, a low hipped roof, segmental arched windows, and a carved double entrance door. A 1915 state report lists the home as the earliest of the institutions caring for Black children in Illinois. It housed up to sixty children and hosted club meetings and public ceremonies until it closed as an orphanage in 1933. Today it is used for storage.","period_of_significance":"1904-1933","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The house is currently used for storage. Parts of the masonry need repointing but are in generally good condition, and the porch roof has disappeared.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.331877-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/8940/28894096/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/98000985.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000985/a33f91a81a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000985/a33f91a81a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Salisburymistake","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_Colored_Home.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Salisburymistake</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:Lincoln_Colored_Home.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894096","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Colored_Home","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14687793"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/sangamon-county/lincoln-colored-home-98000985/"}