The Riverview Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The area around the

Kankakee River The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in the Corn Belt, Central Corn Belt Plains of northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time, the river drained one of the largest we ...

is the oldest intact residential neighborhood in the city. It was originally settled by Emory Cobb, who used the land as pasture before deciding to erect a resort hotel. After the hotel burned down, the property was subdivided. The district includes 118 contributing buildings, including two

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

houses.

History

was founded in 1853 shortly after the Illinois Legislature approved the creation of

Kankakee County Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 107,502. Its county seat is Kankakee. Kankakee County comprises the Kankakee, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History ...

; Kankakee was selected as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

. At this time the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

built a station, spurring rapid growth. By 1858, the population had swelled to 5,000. Early settler Lemuel Milk drained marshes in the area to create a habitable space along the

.Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
/ref> Emory Cobb was the first settler to what would become the Riverview Historic District. Cobb was instrumental in the founding of

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

, but retired in 1866 at age 34. He moved to Kankakee at this time and built his house at the southwest corner of what is now River Street and South Chicago Avenue. Cobb owned much of the land that would become the district, which he initially used as pasture. Heavily involved in Kankakee's early commercial development, Cobb decided to build a resort hotel on his property. The Riverview Hotel, located in what is now the triangle formed by Park Place, South Chicago Avenue, and South Greenwood Avenue, opened in 1887 and operated for ten years before it was destroyed in a fire. After the fire, Cobb subdivided most of his property for residential use. The neighborhood immediately became the most desired development in Kankakee. Merchants, lawyers, and industrialists built their houses, many in contemporary high styles. Foremost of these houses was the neighboring B. Harley Bradley House and the Warren Hickox House, both designed by prominent architect

. These were among Wright's first houses in the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

style. Other houses in the district reflected

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

and

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. ...

architecture. By 1935, almost the entire district had been developed.

Architecture

The Riverview Historic District features 118

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

among its 162 buildings. Of these, some are particularly notable for their historical or architectural significance: * H. Topping House (1926),

American Foursquare The American Foursquare (also American Four Square or American 4 Square) is an American house vernacular under the Arts and Crafts style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the ...

with

details. Harry Topping was a real estate developer who later served in the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 representativ ...

. * Louis E. Beckman House (1920), Queen Anne. Beckman was mayor of Kankakee from 1925 to 1933. He also served two terms in the

and three terms in the

Illinois Senate 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 ...

. * Warren R. Hickox House (1900),

Prairie School design. Hickox was an attorney. * B. Harley Bradley House (1901), Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School design. Bradley made his fortune with the David Bradley Manufacturing Company, which produced the "diamond plow". * Colonel Haswell C. Clarke House (c. 1875),

Shingle style The shingle style is an American architectural style made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture, which eschewed the highly ornamented patterns of the Eastlake style in Queen Anne architecture. In the shingle style, Engli ...

. Col. Clarke married Harriet Cobb, the sister of Emory Cobb. He was a banker and served two years as mayor of Kankakee (1899 to 1901). Divided in 1919, both houses contribute. * 690 South Harrison Avenue (1915), American Foursquare with Prairie School details. * Claude Granger House (1923),

Dutch Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Re ...

. Granger was an attorney. * William H. Volkmann House (1919 with a pre-1900 carriage house), Shingle style. The property was developed by Col. Haswell C. Clarke before 1900, but was extensively remodeled in 1919 by jeweler William H. Volkmann. * Dr. Alfred W. Scobey House (1912),

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

. Dr. Scobey was a surgeon who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad. * 667 South Chicago Avenue (1912), Queen Anne. * Magruder–Deselm House (c. 1895), Queen Anne. Henry A. Magruder was a clothier and Alderman of the Second Ward of Kankakee. He served as mayor from 1897 to 1899. Kankakee County Judge Arthur W. Deselm later purchased the house. * Woodruff–Radeke House (1896). W. K. Woodruff was city engineer during the platting of the district. In 1900, he sold the house to brewer F. D. Radeke. * Alexis L. Granger House (1897), Colonial Revival with

entryway. Granger was secretary and treasurer of the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane. * Edward LeCour House (1903–04), Shingle style. LeCour was a dry goods merchant and Town Supervisor. * John Buffum House (1899), Colonial Revival. Buffum was a carpenter and contractor for the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad and later worked at the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane. * Frank Turk House (1902–04), Prairie School. Turk owned the Turk Furniture Company. * Henry E. Volkmann House (1910), American Foursquare with Prairie School details. * Hunter–Hattenburg House (1898), Queen Anne. William R. Hunter was the Kankakee City Attorney and later judge on the

Illinois Circuit Court The Illinois circuit courts are state courts of the judiciary of Illinois. They are trial courts of original and general jurisdiction. As of 2024, outside of Cook County which has its own circuit court, there are 24 numbered circuits, which may ...

. Albert F. Hattenburg was mayor of Kankakee from 1937 to 1953. * Wayne H. Dyer House (1910),

with

details designed by local architect C.D. Henry who also designed the Volkmann building and the Masonic Temple, among others. Dyer was a prominent attorney and also served as Kankakee County State's Attorney from 1912-1920. Dr. Jesse H. Roth was the second owner of the home from 1920. * Dr. C. K. Smith House (1905), Prairie School with

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

details. Dr. Smith was Kankakee's Public Health Officer. * Charles E. Swannell House (1911), Tallmadge & Watson Prairie School design. Swannell was a dry goods merchant. * Drs. John and Violet Brown House (1917), Tudor Revival. Dr. John Archibald Brown practiced in town while Dr. Violet Palmer-Brown worked at the Illinois Eastern Hospital. * Wilhemine Mang House (1906–08), Prairie School with

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

details. She was the aunt of Louis E. Beckman. * Charles Cobb House (1911), Prairie School. The eldest son of Emory, Cobb was the superintendent of the Kankakee Water Works and manager of the Kankakee Electric Street Railway Company. He also joined his father in the LeCour & Sons dry goods store. Leone & Mary Suttelle, managers of the Kankakee Foundry, later lived here. * Dr. G. W. Geiger House (1929), Tudor Revival. Geiger practiced in town. Howard McCracken, an executive vice president with the City National Bank, later owned the house. * H. H. Troup House (1912), Colonial Revival. Troup owned a lumber and building materials company. * Joseph Rondy House (1920),

. Rondy owned a bookstore. General Arthur Inglesh, a commander of the Illinois State Militia who married the daughter of Governor

Len Small Lennington "Len" Small (June 16, 1862 – May 17, 1936) was an American politician who served as the 26th Governor of Illinois from 1921 to 1929. He previously was a member of the Illinois state senate from the 16th District from 1901 to 1903 ...

, later lived here. * Herman & Lena Beckman Handorf House (1925),

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

. Herman owned the Kankakee Bottling Company. His wife Lena was the sister of Louis E. Beckman. *Fred Mann House (1908),

Zachary Taylor Davis Zachary Taylor Davis (May 26, 1869 – December 16, 1946) was the architect of several major Chicago buildings, including St. Ambrose (1904) Comiskey Park (1910), Wrigley Field (1914), Mount Carmel High School (1924), and St. James Chapel of Ar ...

Mission Revival. Fred Mann was Mayor of Kankakee from 1907 to 1909.

References

{{reflist Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Victorian architecture in Illinois Prairie School architecture in Illinois Houses in Kankakee County, Illinois Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Kankakee County, Illinois