115 HILL AVENUE
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
115 Hill Avenue was built in 1903 for Judge Frank E. Shopen and his first wife, Gertrude. Frank is a native of Kane County, born in the Campton Township in 1869. After graduating, he moved to Elgin and became an apprentice under R. M. Ireland who was a prominent Elgin lawyer at that time. In 1895 he was admitted to the bar of Illinois and became an an associate in Ireland's office, which was located in the Home Bank Building. Frank was a talented public speaker who became president of the Old People's Society of Elgin in 1919. The following year, as a widower, he remarried Mary Pearson.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
115 Hill Avenue shows evidence of the Shingle Style with Queen Anne influences which are found in its play of roof forms against the sky, use of shingles and clapboard siding, and irregular gabled dormers. Details on this home include elongated brackets and staggered decorative shingles. This house closely resembles the house located at 386 E. Chicago Street.
TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS OWNERS
Sources: 1990 Heritage Plaque Application