Waterloo Historic District

Waterloo's historic district takes in most of the central part of the Monroe County seat, south of St. Louis, Illinois. It contains 271 structures arranged around a courthouse square, where commercial activity concentrated along the west side of Main Street while the other sides developed as housing. Sixteen buildings form a continuous wall on that side of Main, and only two date from the 20th century. Architecturally the district mixes long-lived Federal elements with Greek Revival, Italianate and Second Empire touches. Its most distinctive feature is the "German Street House," a small, usually brick cottage type built from before 1852 to at least 1901. These cottages recall the German immigrants who drove the town's growth after about 1840. The town was laid out in 1818 by George Forquer and Daniel Pope Cook and became the county seat in 1825. The nomination warns that aluminum siding, poor remodeling and suburban pressure from St. Louis threaten its integrity.