737 N SPRING STREET

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE

In the 1850s, Vincent S. Lovell owned a large farm east of the Fox River just north of Elgin. As time went on and Elgin expanded, a number of farms and parcels were annexed into city proper. One such addition was the Pleasant View Addition.

In 1898, Charles Browning purchased land in the Pleasant View Addition and commissioned a house to be built by Bean and Hubbell for $2,500. Completed in 1899, Browning sold the house to A. Wheeler Morgan in 1925. Before transferring ownership, however, George S. Adams a worker for Ford automobiles lived in the house in 1911 until an unknown time.

Morgan was a carpenter, who worked for David C. Cook Publishing Company, the man who lends his name to the D. C. Cook/Lovell Area Historic District. Morgan retired in 1937, and by 1960 the estate of his daughter, Susie J., sold the home to Lester Lindberg. Susie also worked for the D. C. Cook Company, following in her father’s footsteps and retiring with the publishing house as well.

Lester Lindberg and his wife, Marjorie, became joint tenant owners of the house in 1964. And owned the home up until the 1990s, when it was sold.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

737 N Spring is listed in the Illinois Urban Architectural and Historical Survey as being a contributing structure to the existing National Register.  This means the individual home is not on the National Register, but it does contribute to the character of the district overall. This two-story, single family home has a number of Queen Anne features, though it is not a high-style example. Built in 1899, features of the Queen Anne style include the wood clapboard exterior with decorative shingles in the gable, the asymmetry, the crossing of gable and hipped roofs and a bay windows is exhibited on the north elevation. Like many Queen Anne variations, there is a porch, though this does not have decorative turned porch posts and is screened in.

Sources: 2000 Heritage Plaque Application; Audio: TextAloud