The 16-sided Teeple Barn, freshly painted at the end of its heyday in the mid-1960s. Its current surroundings are decidedly less rural

Ten sites could be history
The Teeple Barn, built in 1885, is a 16-sided structure that no longer sits in the middle of a dairy farm near Elgin in Kane County Once surrounded by clover; it now sits beside an I-90 cloverleaf and a burgeoning industrial complex.

The only barn of its kind in Illinois, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of 10 historic properties placed on the 1999 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places list by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, a private nonprofit group.

"When a historic property is lost, the damage is permanent," says David Keene, president of the council. "Although many historic properties in Illinois are in danger, these are the 10 we feel are most threatened right now."

All 10 sites have architectural, historical or archaeological significance. Other properties on the list:

  • The Pullman Palace Car Factory and Village. (The House Appropriations Committee approved $4 million in stabilization funds for the building, which was nearly destroyed by fire late last year.) See Illinois Issues, January 1999, page 13;
  • Tree Studios, part of an artist's colony on Chicago's Near North Side;
  • St. Boniface, a Catholic church and school in Chicago;
  • Harwood-Solon House in Champaign, an 1865 brick Italianate mansion;
  • The Joseph Cluster Round Barn in Grundy County (see Illinois Issues, December 1996, page 18);
  • A 19th century Progressive-era prototype of an industrial village in Edwardsville;
  • A patent medicine factory in Monticello;
  • A farm on the eastern approach to Galena, which is threatened with urban sprawl;
  • Sugar Loaf Mound, near the Cahokia Mound settlement in Madison County, which is being chewed away for a golf course and subdivision.

    The Teeple Barn measures 85 feet in diameter and 85 feet to the top of the cupola. AgTech, the local group formed to save the barn, plans to renovate it for use as an agricultural education space. In 1996, the Illinois Department of Agriculture donated $100,000 to begin the project. Kane County has granted $200,000, but modernization is expected to cost more than $1 million.

    Legislation to provide Illinois Heritage matching grants for bricks and mortar projects was approved by committees in both chambers in mid-March. All 10 sites on the list would qualify for the grants, which would be administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

    Beverley Scobell
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    WEB SITE OF THE MONTH


     State income tax return check-offs

    For those overcome by tax time feelings of generosity the state of Illinois makes it easy to give contributions to charitable organizations.

    Lines 26 a-e and line 27 of Form IL-1040 allow taxpayers to check off contributions to wildlife preservation child abuse prevention, Alzheimer s research, homeless assistance, breast cancer research or the local school district. Contributions reduce the tax-payer's return or increase the amount he or she owes.

    Need to know more before you contribute? To see how the Department of Natural Resources puts your wildlife preservation check-off donations to work, go to
    http://dnr.state.il.us. At least through tax time, clicking on the Illinois Wildlife Preservation Fund link will give you a general overview of the fund's goals.

    For more specific information, check out the Press Releases link and choose the February 22 release about the Wildlife Preservation Fund.
    Last year's check-off contributions funded more than 40 projects, including a study on the genetic structure of prairie plants in Grundy County that is designed to help preserve one of our natural prairies; the installation of a drift fence along a road in Jackson County to help protect the timber rattlesnake, one of our threatened species; and the expansion of a traveling exhibit on eagles, bluebirds and neotropical migrant birds.

    For other check-offs on line 26, go to these sites:

  • Child abuse prevention at
    www.state.il.us/dcfs/capf.htm.
  • Breast and cervical cancer research and Alzheimer's disease research at
    www.idph.state.il.us/public/press9 5.htm#aug [and #oct]
    Assistance to the homeless at www.state.il.us/ageucy/dhs/2-5-98.htm.

    T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruelest month.
    For charities with check-offs, it doesn't have to be.

    Beverley Scobell


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