The Rockford Morning Star Building, located at 127 N. Wyman St. in Rockford,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, is a historic building originally used by the ''

Rockford Morning Star The ''Rockford Register Star'' is the primary daily newspaper of the Rockford, Illinois, metropolitan area. The fifth-highest circulation newspaper in Illinois, the Register Star takes its name from the 1979 merger of two predecessors, the '' ...

''.

Architecture

Built in 1927–28, the building was designed by

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

, architecture firm Clausen, Kruse & Klein. The firm designed the building in the

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

style. The building's

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

exterior is segmented by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s with decorative

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

s. Decorative panels situated near the building's entrance feature

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

elements, including rows of

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

s and a

guilloché Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning m ...

of lotus buds.

History

The first newspapers in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

were ''The Rock River Express'' and the ''Rockford Star'', both first published in 1840. Both papers lasted only a year. The ''Winnebago Forum'', renamed ''The Republican'' in 1845, was the first city paper to have a lengthy publishing period (1842-1862). The ''Rockford Morning Star'' first published in 1888. It merged with the ''Rockford Daily Register-Gazette'' in 1928. Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms purchased the paper two years later, and again split the two papers, publishing the ''Morning Star'' as a morning daily. The paper was purchased by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

in 1967, who merged the last two remaining Rockford papers in 1979 to create the ''

Rockford Register Star The ''Rockford Register Star'' is the primary daily newspaper of the Rockford, Illinois, metropolitan area. The fifth-highest circulation newspaper in Illinois, the Register Star takes its name from the 1979 merger of two predecessors, the '' ...

''. The Rockford Morning Star Building was constructed during negotiations for the 1928 merge. However, the building was only used for two years; after its acquisition by Simms, a new tower was built on the other side of the Rock River. The building remained in the possession of the Simms family, who leased it to the George Rogers Clark Mutual Company. It was eventually absorbed into the Pioneer Life Insurance Company. The company bought the building from the Simms family in 1946. The company moved to

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hameln-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübb ...

in 1993 and henceforth only used the Rockford building for storage and mailing. The company merged into Conseco, Inc. in 1996. The building was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1999. It was listed as a contributing property to the West Downtown Rockford Historic District in 2007.

References

{{reflist National Register of Historic Places in Winnebago County, Illinois Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Art Deco architecture in Illinois Industrial buildings completed in 1927 Buildings and structures in Rockford, Illinois Historic district contributing properties in Illinois