217 LINCOLN AVENUE
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
In December of 1909, the church sold the west 50 feet of lot 6 to Charles Browning, who later sold it to A. Wheeler Morgan. Mr. Morgan was a carpenter who later worked at David C. Cook Publishing Company.
Lot 7, immediately south of lot 6 was sold to Morgan in 1909. In May 1922, Morgan sold the west 50 feet of lot 6 and lot 7 to Irma Coleman, the wife of Roy Coleman. The August 1, 1922 edition of the Elgin Daily Courier published a list of building permits issued for the month of July 1922 which listed Roy Coleman as building a two-story dwelling at 217 Lincoln Avenue for $6,000.
Roy Coleman was secretary of the Farmer’s Cooperative Oil Company. He sold insurance out of a downtown Elgin office building. The Colemans kept the house until 1971.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
217 Lincoln Avenue is an American Foursquare, a sub-type of the Prairie style with its low pitched roof with wide, overhanging eaves, symmetrical façade, one-story porch, and emphasis on the horizontality of the structure.
Its simple box shape and large, centrally placed, hipped roof dormer are two other features highly typical of the style, as well as the stuccoed exterior.
TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS OWNERS
Sources: 2000 Heritage Plaque Application; Audio: TextAloud