Elsah Historic District

Elsah is a small Mississippi River village in Jersey County, Illinois, surveyed and named by James Semple in 1853 and essentially full-grown by about 1861. The historic district holds roughly 48 buildings with 19th-century portions, including 19 stone buildings, five early brick houses and an early frame hotel. Most follow a rural Greek Revival style, with a few mansard-roofed, Italianate and American Gothic touches. Three areas keep nearly unchanged 19th-century views: the former business district along LaSalle Street, three blocks of Mill Street, and a row of brick and stone houses between Elm and Alpa Streets. The old commercial street still has its four taverns and hotel. Remains of a railroad tunnel and cut recall Jay Gould's 1880s plans. Poverty, isolation and the long holding of surrounding land by two families, then Principia College, kept change small. A filling station by architect Bernard Maybeck is among the few notable modern additions.