432 S. STATE STREET
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
The original owners of the 432 S. State Street were William and Carrie Knickrehm. William and Carrie were astute business people. When they bought the property in 1924, they bought three full lots. This amount of land allowed them to give a portion of it to their eldest son, William, for a new home, sold another portion of the land to another home and leased the remaining portion of the property to Standard Oil of Indiana to build a service station. Their leasing agreement brought them $150 per month in 1934.
William immigrated to Elgin from Germany at the age of 16 in 1879. He worked as a conductor on the city street car lines until 1912. He then accepted a job at the Elgin National Watch Company in the machine department and remained there until his retirement on Christmas Eve of 1930. He died on March 18, 1944. His wife Carrie passed away in 1950.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
432 S. State Street is an excellent example of a Craftsman Style Bungalow built in 1924 for William and Carrie Knickrehm. Typical of this style, is its wide eaves, battered porch columns and brick knee walls. It also has a front facing projecting porch and side facing gables.
TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS OWNERS
Sources: 2015 Heritage Plaque Application