Vermont Historic District

Vermont's historic downtown is a four-block commercial district in southwestern Fulton County, Illinois, about 60 miles southwest of Peoria. It centers on North Main Street and the public square, a park laid out in the village's original plat that hosted circuses, speeches, rallies and fairs. Most of the 25 contributing resources are red brick buildings of one or two stories, built from the 1850s through 1951 in Greek Revival, Italianate, Late Victorian and Commercial styles. Many have cast iron or pressed sheet metal storefronts, metal cornices or brick corbelling. The district grew from a settlement founded in 1832, first with frame stores, then with brick buildings after local brickyards opened in the 1850s. Pork packing, two new railroad lines and building booms in the late 1860s, early 1870s and 1890s shaped it. Fires in 1890 and 1904 prompted further rebuilding. The district also includes the previously listed Vermont Masonic Hall.