With this post I am beginning a new series on Delavan, a city in Tazewell County, Illinois. This Central Illinois community is part of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area. Delavan's population at the 2020 census was 1,924. Delavan, a rural, agricultural community, derives its name from Edward C. Delavan (1793-1871), a wealthy businessman from Albany, New York who devoted much of his fortune to promoting the temperance movement.
The photos in this short series will focus on the Delavan Commercial Historic District. When the district was added in 1991 to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), 20 of the 26 buildings listed were contributing properties.
The oldest buildings in the district, two simple brick commercial structures, were built around 1860. The remaining buildings were mainly built later in the 19th century, with a few built during the early 20th century. The buildings mostly have either Italianate or vernacular commercial designs, as was typical for commercial buildings of the period. Several of the buildings feature decorative metal elements such as storefronts, cornices, and window treatments. One notable exception to this design trend is the Masonic Hall at 401 Locust Street, which has a Queen Anne design featuring a large turret. This building will be featured in a future post.
This first photo was taken from the intersection of Locust and Fourth St. looking north at the west side of the 300 block of S. Locust St. The buildings in this block are:
323 S. Locust (left, on the northwest corner of Locust and Fourth St)
This building, erected in 1880, housed the Baldwin Bank which operated until 1932. A post office was located in the rear of the building in the early 1900s. Recently renovated as a distillery, the building is currently for sale.
321 S. Locust (second from corner)
Also erected in 1880, this building is part of 323 and is very similar in cornice and window treatment. The building housed a restaurant operation for many years with numerous proprietors. It later became a shoe store, and then an insurance agency.
319 S. Locust (third from corner)
This single story building originally was occupied by a drug store. Over the years it has been home to two groceries, including an A&P (think frosted cinnamon raisin bread), two paint stores, and the Delavan Community Historical Society which occupies the space today.
317 S. Locust (fourth building from corner)
This building was constructed in 1902 as a men's clothing store. A decade later the building was repurposed as a shoe store. The building also was the home of two appliance stores, including one that sold televisions. The local telephone exchange once had offices on the second floor. A sign hanging in front of the building tells us it was recently used as The Harvest Cafe, but that business is now permanently closed.
313-315 S. Locust (two-story red brick building fifth from corner)
This highly versatile, circa 1888-1910 building has two store fronts. In the early 1900s this was a harness shop, followed by a mortuary, then a restaurant, a Catholic parish center, and was temporarily used by the Tazewell County National Bank while their new building was being erected. More recently one side of the building was occupied by the now closed Hometown Wine & Spirits, while the other side is a bar and restaurant known as The Exchange.
311 S. Locust: Built in the early 1900s, this building was once the Savoy Theatre. In later years it was a hardware store, drug store, grocery store, Ben Franklin store, and a flower shop.
Up to this point, all of the aforementioned buildings are contributing properties in the historic district. Now for the two non-contributing properties:
307-309 S. Locust: This two-story building with a modern, light tan facade, was built in 1900 and saw use as a succession of hardware stores into the early 1970s. It then became a variety store, and now is a Maytag Appliance Store. The remodeling of the front facade is the reason for the building's non-contributing status.
301 S. Locust: The final property on this block, a one-story tan-brick building built for First Farmer's State Bank on the southwest corner of Locust and Third St., is non-contributing due to being more recent construction.
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