Warren Commercial Historic District

Warren's commercial core sits in a small agricultural community in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, laid out in 1853 along the Illinois Central Railroad. The historic district includes 34 contributing buildings and a 1928 steel water tower, arranged along Main Street, Railroad Street and part of Burnett Street. Most buildings are two-story brick storefronts with metal cornices and cast-iron columns, some supplied by the Mesker ironworks of Evansville, Indiana. Notable examples include the 1891 Auditorium Building, the 1888 Richardson Block, the 1904 Hawley Building, a 1913 Beaux Arts bank, a 1911 Carnegie-funded library, the 1901 railroad depot and the Hotel Warren. Fires in 1887 and 1889 prompted much of the rebuilding. The district reflects Warren's rise as one of the county's largest towns in the 1870s, second only to Galena, and its commercial development through 1945. Later infill and altered facades make up the noncontributing resources.