Belvidere South State Street Historic District

South State Street in Belvidere, Illinois, is a compact commercial district of 16 acres, covering five blocks between Pearl Street and Whitney Boulevard. It holds 50 properties, 44 of them contributing, most of them attached brick storefronts with apartments or meeting halls above. Development shifted here after the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad reached the area in 1851, and the oldest building, P. Curtis's Block, dates to 1852. Italianate buildings from the late nineteenth century give the district its character, with pressed-metal cornices, stone lintels, oriel windows and some surviving cast iron storefronts. Examples include the 1885 Odd Fellows building and the Commerce Building, designed by Lewis H. Sturges. City hall, a community center, housing and a previously listed school complex add civic and social uses. The district was recognized as a commercial center from 1852 to 1962, and its streetscapes have changed little since the mid-1950s. Newer or heavily altered buildings are classed as noncontributing.