Decatur Historic District

This residential district on Decatur's near west and southwest sides covers about 258 acres between Eldorado, Church, Haworth and the Sangamon River. Of 722 structures, 95 were judged especially significant, and most of the rest date from 1890 to 1929. Nearly every architectural style popular in Illinois between the Civil War and the Great Depression appears, from Italianate and Gothic Revival to Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Romanesque and Tudor Revival. Three houses on Millikin Place were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his associates. Many architects from Decatur, Chicago and elsewhere worked here between about 1880 and 1929. The district grew alongside Decatur's industries after the railroads arrived in 1854, and several houses belonged to manufacturers and civic leaders such as James Millikin and Adolph Mueller. Parking lots and small apartment buildings intrude in places, especially in the northeast, but the quality and intact character of the remaining buildings supported listing as an architectural district.