{"nrhp_refnum":"99000974","name":"Griggsville Landing Lime Kiln","other_names":["11pk424"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Township Rd. 490, N of Napoleon Hollow","address_restricted":false,"city":"Valley City","county":"Pike County","state":"IL","lat":39.69004184900007,"lon":-90.64622356499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Historic - Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A stone periodic (intermittent) lime kiln with an associated quarry face and work areas, on the western bluff of the Illinois River near Valley City, Pike County, Illinois, within Ray Norbut State Conservation Area. It was built around 1855 by an unknown builder.","why_significant":"The kiln is one of the best-preserved periodic lime kilns in Illinois and represents a small commercial lime operation that predates the industrial expansion of lime making after the Civil War. It is also an example of a pre-Civil War kiln type, and the surrounding rubble, terraces and midden may hold archaeological information about how a kiln site was organized and used.","narrative":"Built into a hillside on the western bluff of the Illinois River in Pike County, this limestone kiln is a bottle-shaped structure about 17 feet tall and 19 feet across at its base. Loaded from the top and emptied through an arched opening at the front, it is a periodic kiln, a type that required roughly 72 hours of firing followed by cooling. Wing walls and a ledge on the front indicate a roofed work area, and a quarried bluff face rises behind it. Tax and deed records suggest it was built in the mid-1850s on land bought by James Hutchinson, and an 1872 plat shows a blacksmith shop at the site, suggesting later reuse. The kiln served the Griggsville Landing community, a river port whose trade declined after a railroad opened in 1870. It is regarded as one of the best-preserved early kilns in Illinois, and the surrounding terraces, rubble and midden may reveal how such sites operated.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1855-ca. 1870","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Other: Periodic Lime Kiln","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant/not in use; the top courses of the kiln are missing, wing walls survive less than three feet high, and rubble and vegetation cover much of the site.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.310675-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/13/8939/28893913/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/99000974.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893913","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griggsville_Landing_Lime_Kiln","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5608988"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/pike-county/griggsville-landing-lime-kiln-99000974/"}