Streator’s boom years, from the 1870s to the early 1900s, left behind houses and public buildings that still show the wealth coal and glass brought to town. Three Streator properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Here is a guide to them, plus other buildings worth knowing. For the broader story, see our History of Streator.
The Silas Williams House (c. 1893)
The Silas Williams House, also called the Edward Baker House, was built around 1893 by Silas Williams, a paper mill owner from Ottawa, Illinois. Williams owned many properties in Streator and built a number of homes around the city, but this one was clearly his showpiece.
It is a two-story frame house with a full basement and attic, built in the Queen Anne style. Like many Queen Anne houses, it has a lively outline, with multiple gables and both polygonal and round towers. What sets it apart is the inside. The first floor is unusually open, and much of the original woodwork survives. The National Register nomination states that its open floor plan carries the Queen Anne style further than any other house in Illinois, and calls it one of the last “great” 19th-century houses in Streator. It was listed on the National Register on June 23, 1976 (reference #76002146).
The R. D. Fletcher House (1890)
The Ruffin Drew Fletcher House, also known as the George Allen Dicus, M.D., House, shows the link between Streator’s homes and its mines. Fletcher went to work for the Chicago, Wilmington and Vermilion Coal Company in 1876 and moved to Streator. In 1890 the company built this house for him. He lived there until 1900, when he was transferred elsewhere, and the house was sold to Dr. George Dicus.
The house is a good example of Victorian Stick style, recognizable by its decorative trim and roof massing. Architectural historians Virginia and Lee McAlester call this subtype “gabled roof” Stick style. Two original outbuildings, a one-story wash house and a two-story carriage house, were built in the same style at the same time and are included in the listing. Early upgrades such as electric fans show how upper-middle-class families lived in Streator in the 1890s. The house was listed on August 5, 1991. To learn more about the company behind it, see our coal mining era page.
The Streator Public Library (1903)
The third Register property is the Classical Revival Carnegie library on South Park Street, designed by Patton & Miller and opened in 1903 with a $35,000 grant obtained by Colonel Ralph Plumb. It was listed on May 2, 1996. Its domed rotunda and restored 1905 murals are covered on our library history page.
Other Landmarks Worth Seeing
Several other buildings help tell Streator’s story, even though they are not individually listed:
- The Santa Fe depot on North Illinois Street, which BNSF repaired in 2013, with the WWII canteen monument beside it.
- The Majestic Theatre, whose 1921 facade with 2,100 light bulbs still anchors North Vermillion Street.
- St. Stephen’s Church, the 1906 home of America’s first Slovak Catholic parish.
- Streator City Park, with its Plumb monument, Plumb Pavilion and Veterans Corner.
Respecting Private Property
The Williams and Fletcher houses are private homes. Please enjoy them from the sidewalk and respect the owners’ privacy.
Related Streator History
- Streator History Overview
- Streator Public Library: The Carnegie Library on Park Street
- Streator's Coal Mining Era: The Vermilion Coal Company and Its Miners
- Colonel Ralph Plumb: Streator's Founder and First Mayor
Sources
- Silas Williams House – Wikipedia (based on NRHP nomination). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Williams_House
- Ruffin Drew Fletcher House – Wikipedia (based on NRHP nomination). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffin_Drew_Fletcher_House
- Streator Public Library – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streator_Public_Library
- Streator station – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streator_station
- Cinema Treasures – Majestic Theatre. https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5132
