The H.C. Pitney Variety Store Building is a
commercial building
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and ...
in downtown
Tampico, Illinois
Tampico () is a village located in Tampico Township, Whiteside County, Illinois, Tampico Township, Whiteside County, Illinois, Whiteside County, Illinois, United States next to Rock Falls and Sterling, Illinois. As of the 2010 census the village ha ...
, United States, constructed in 1900. The building is part of a two-story commercial block along Main Street.
Between 1919 and 1920, H.C. Pitney operated the building as the H.C. Pitney Variety Store, and the second-floor apartment was occupied by the family of 40th U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. It is listed as a
contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
to the
Tampico Main Street Historic District
The Main Street Historic District in Tampico, Illinois, United States is a historic district notable as home to the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. The district includes the late 19th century collection of buildings that comprise Tampico's central ...
, which was added to the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1982.
History
The building, consisting of two store fronts, was erected by Ray McKenzie in 1900.
[Ward, p.5.] The H.C. Pitney Variety Store occupied the property, under various owners, from 1911 until 1920.
[Ward, p. 4.] H.C. Pitney owned the store from 1911 until 1914, when he sold it. During his first period of ownership, Pitney employed Jack Reagan
John Edward Reagan (July 13, 1883 – May 18, 1941) was the father of Ronald Reagan, motion picture actor, who served as the 33rd governor of California and 40th president of the United States and radio station manager Neil Reagan.
Ancestry
Ja ...
as a clerk, the father of 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.[Berger, Marilyn.]
Reagan had long struggle with Alzheimer's Disease
" ''The New York Times'', June 5, 2004, p. 4. Retrieved July 17, 2007. While Jack Reagan was employed by Pitney, Ronald was born in the apartment over a bakery/restaurant building at 109 Main Street, across Main Street from the Variety Store.[
In 1919, Pitney returned to ownership of the Variety Store and Jack Reagan returned at the same time to work for him. Beginning on August 25, 1919, the Reagan family occupied the ]apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
above the commercial portion of the building.[ After Pitney closed the store, the Reagans vacated the premises in December 1920 and moved to ]Dixon, Illinois
Dixon is a city and the county seat of Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 in 2000. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the R ...
.[
]
Architecture
The building once occupied by the H.C. Pitney Variety Store is part of a commercial block and it stands connected to the building next to it. Of the two structures in the block the Pitney Store is the newer; the other building was built a year earlier. The two-story brick building features a metal cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
and two storefronts listed at different addresses. The first store front, at 124 Main Street is 3 bays wide and the second, at 122 Main Street, is 4 bays wide. The building's windows are flat headed and have stone lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of ...
s and sill
Sill may refer to:
* Sill (dock), a weir at the low water mark retaining water within a dock
* Sill (geology), a subhorizontal sheet intrusion of molten or solidified magma
* Sill (geostatistics)
* Sill (river), a river in Austria
* Sill plate, ...
s. The storefronts are still intact but the original windows have been boarded over and painted.[
]
Significance
The family of Ronald Reagan occupied the second floor apartment at the H.C. Pitney Variety Store from August 1919 until December 1920. The building was listed as a "significant" contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
to the Tampico Main Street Historic District
The Main Street Historic District in Tampico, Illinois, United States is a historic district notable as home to the birthplace of Ronald Reagan. The district includes the late 19th century collection of buildings that comprise Tampico's central ...
when it joined the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on June 3, 1982.[
]
See also
*Ronald Reagan Birthplace
The Birthplace of Ronald Reagan, also known as the Graham Building, is located in an apartment on the second floor of a late 19th-century commercial building in Tampico, Illinois, United States. The building was built in 1896, and housed a tavern f ...
* Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home
Notes
References
*Ward, Michael.
Main Street Historic District
" (PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, April 1, 1982, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved July 17, 2007.
{{Ronald Reagan
Main Street Historic District (Tampico, Illinois)
Ronald Reagan Trail
Commercial buildings completed in 1900
Presidential homes in the United States
Buildings and structures in Whiteside County, Illinois
Retail buildings in Illinois
Historic district contributing properties in Illinois
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois
Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in Whiteside County, Illinois