The John H. Addams Homestead, also known as the Jane Addams Birthplace, is located in the Stephenson County village of Cedarville,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The homestead property, a site, includes an 1840s era

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

house, a Pennsylvania-style barn, and the remains of

John H. Addams John Huy Addams (July 12, 1822 – August 17, 1881) was a politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Illinois. Addams was born in Pennsylvania in 1822, where he married Sarah Weber (1817–1863). In 1844 the couple moved to Cedarville, Il ...

' mill complex. The house was built in two portions, in 1846 and 1854 by Addams; he added some minor additions during the 1870s. Other major alterations took place during a 1950s modernization of the home. The homestead has been noted for its significance to industry and politics. On September 6, 1860, future Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

was born in the house.

History

The John H. Addams Homestead includes the house, a Pennsylvania-style

bank barn A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one are ...

, and the remains of the Addams Grist Mill. After arriving in Stephenson County in 1845, Addams purchased the Cedar Creek Mills from Van Valzah, who had owned the mill since 1837.

built the

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, federal-style house in two portions beginning in 1846. The smaller, northern part of the house was built in 1846, and in 1854 he added the larger southern portion of the house and its central entrance. Addams completed further alteration during the 1870s when he added a

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

and bay to the southern portion of the house, and a

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

over the central front entrance. In 1956, after the home was purchased by Thomas Ennenga, the front porch was removed and a gable-style

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

was placed into the roof as part of extensive modernizations done to the home. The rear porch was also replaced at that time.

Architecture

The homestead also includes a Pennsylvania-style banked barn and the remains of Addams' mill. The barn is three and a half stories tall with dimensions of by . It lies east of the house, and, like all

banked barn A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one are ...

s, is built into a slope. The ramp leads into the south side of the

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G. ...

, and the

threshing Threshing, or thrashing, is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History ...

floor; on the building's north side is a cantilevered forebay. Instead of windows the barn has

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". Mor ...

ed vents. The whole building rests upon a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

foundation. Most of Addams'

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

has long since disappeared but there are some remains on the homestead site. Along Cedar Creek are the remains of the mill's limestone foundation, the dam, and the

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mi ...

. The

mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the com ...

has dried up and is now a grassy area. The original mill stood four stories tall.

Significance

John H. Addams was a prominent business leader and citizen in early Stephenson County. Besides his grist,

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mo ...

and

linseed Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

mill, which became one of the largest in northern Illinois, Addams held positions in banks, railroad companies and was a founder of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1867. He was active in politics much of his life and was a delegate to the state constitutional convention multiple times as well as serving an

Illinois State Senator The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the I ...

. His daughter,

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

winner

, was born in the house on September 6, 1860. During the 1970s the Illinois Historic Sites Survey noted the house for its significance as Jane Addams' birthplace.T. Ennarga House
" (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

), Illinois Historic Sites Survey Inventory, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency'', pp. 8-10. Retrieved 20 August 2007. The U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

noted the house for its significance to industry and politics/government, and added it to its listings on April 17, 1979.John H. Addams Homestead
" (

), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency'', pp. 1-8. Retrieved 20 August 2007.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addams Homestead, John H. Cedarville, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Stephenson County, Illinois Houses in Stephenson County, Illinois Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Addams, Jane

History

Architecture

Significance

See also

Notes