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Freeport City Hall
230 W. Stephenson, Freeport
(Stephenson County)
Update
December, 2012: Landmarks Illinois was able to
provide a follow-up technical assistance report for this
site with a grant from the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency.
Click here for report.
This unusual sandstone and brick city hall was built in
1899 to house the city hall, fire department, police
department and library for the burgeoning industrial
town of Freeport. It sits on a prominent corner at the
west end of the downtown but has been subjected to a
series of unfortunate interior alterations over the
years and an overall lack of maintenance by the city.
Following the collapse of two nearby downtown buildings
in 2011, fears for the structural condition of city hall
led Freeport to move its offices out of the building. A
citizens group was formed to persuade the City that the
building could and should be saved.
This 60’ x 155’ building anchors the west end of a city
block and is in the city’s downtown National Register
district. Its rusticated sandstone base with tall arched
windows supports a brick 2nd floor containing the
original cove-ceilinged council chamber. The building
has various porticoed entrances that originally marked
the different functions that were housed in it. An
under-utilized attic story has elaborate dormers but is
missing its stone parapet. Inside the building has been
cut up into many layers and rooms. These layers of
inappropriate renovations would need to be removed as
part of the building’s rehabilitation. Rockford
architect Gary Anderson was hired to do a preliminary
study on the condition of the building and the potential
cost of rehabilitation.
Like all Illinois municipalities, Freeport has seen its
revenue drop and the City Council is concerned about the
cost of redoing and maintaining City Hall. There has
been discussion of abandoning, selling and/or
demolishing the building rather than investing in it for
the future. Citizens for Saving Freeport City Hall was
formed in November 2011 to open a public dialogue about
the future of the building. They have recently been
joined in their efforts by Freeport Downtown Development
Foundation and Prospering Together. The Freeport City
Hall is an important landmark and creates foot traffic
for Freeport’s downtown: every effort should be made to
give this building a new life for the 21st century.
What You Can Do
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Citizens for Saving Freeport City Hall
c/o Brenda Myers
9 E Stephenson Street
Freeport, IL 61032
(815) 233-7300
tbamyers@gmail.com |
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City of Freeport
c/o Mayor George Gaulrapp
524 W. Stephenson
Freeport, IL 61032
815 235-8200
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