Historic Millburn

HOME » projects and goals » historic registers; national and Illinois » national register application » present and original physical appearance »

Editor's Notes:

This is part 7, DESCRIPTION, from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.
It includes the text of the original in a somewhat modified format.
We have added links to our photographic archives.
A map is available to place the references.

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The unincorporated village of Millburn (present population under 100) is centered on the intersection of Grass Lake and Millburn roads with U.S.Route 45 about five miles south of the Illinois-Wisconsin state line and ten west of Waukegan (map). The surrounding area is generally flat to slightly rolling, largely devoid of prominent features, and still quite rural, despite the ever-increasing incidence of more urban uses (tract housing, forest preserve, etc.).

The Millburn Historic District is virtually limited to the most concentrated and identifiably non-agricultural part of the village on U.S.45 and Grass Lake Road, but has been extended somewhat east on Millburn Road to include a particularly fine and early residence. Limiting the district -- with the one noted exception -- to the village proper was the main consideration in determining the boundary. Adjacent areas that have been excluded are characterized by widely-spaced lesser structures that form a transition from the relative compactness of the village to even more widely-spaced farmsteads or are either open or under active cultivation. No structure even approaching the historical and architectural significance of the John Strang House on Millburn Road (v.No.1 below) lies within a reasonable enough distance of the boundary to warrant the latter's extension, while those older structures that are nearby are not of sufficient interest to justify the extensive additional acreage that their inclusion would add to the district.

There are only 18 major structures, i.e., excluding barns, etc., in the district and at least 13 of them date from the 19th Century. (N.B.: The number of structures in the district could be set at anywhere from 17 to 20, depending upon which of 3 very large additions to older structures are counted as independent entities. In arriving at 18, only one such addition was thus counted (v.No.3 below), and that only because it is architecturally and historically distinct from the older structure.) Most of the structures are residential -- a single active store (v.No.9 below) and the Congregational Church (v.no.12. being the only exceptions -- and most are also of frame construction (Nos.5-11, 13-18). The five masonry structures (nos.1-4, 12), however, are not only of rather larger scale than the frame ones, they also include the four of greatest architectural significance (Nos.1-4) and therefore have a considerable greater impact than their number may imply. In terms of relationships, the majority of the buildings fall into two distinct groups. The first encompasses the 12 frame structures on the east side of U.S.45 and the north side of Millburn Road just east of U.S.45 and presents the picture of a very small, yet nonetheless tightly-knit settlement (v.particularly VIEW 1, but also VIEW 3). These buildings are all closely related to one another in terms of scale, material, siting, and even style. The other group includes the three masonry structures at the northwest corner of Grass Lake Road and U.5.45 and is of a markedly different character than the first. A remarkable example of the architectural values of roughly the third quarter of the 19th Century, this ensemble is made even more remarkable not despite but because of its small size (see VIEW c and the individual photograph of Structure No.2). The remaining three structures (Nos.l, 10,12) stand in relative isolation.

Stylistically, the Millburn Historic District falls into much the same two groups, with the one (now extended to include No.1 in addition to Nos.2-4) representing some of the 19th Century's "high" styles and the other (the 12 frame houses) the more modest interpretation of these styles at somewhat lower economic levels. The oldest structures in the district, both belonging to the first group, date from 1856 and are cast in a rather idiosyncratic, though easily recognizable Greek Revival (Nos.1-2). The Robert Strang house of 1867 (No.4) is a very strong and virtually untouched Italianate built of Milwaukee cream brick, while the John H. Strang house of 1880 (No.3) might best be described as very early Queen Anne. The more modest structures in the district (particularly No.5-lC, but also most of the others on the east side of U.S.45) share in these and other popular styles, but do not represent particularly pure examples. There are suggestions of Greek Revival (south half of No.8 and others), Italianate "including No3.6,10,north half of No.8), and Gothic (No.7), but most of them are, stylistically, rather anonymous, They are, however, very typical for this type of early and rural settlement-and do much to create its specific character. Millburn, being under 500 population, was not surveyed by the Illinois Historic Structures Survey.