The Oscar Taylor House is a historic house in the city of Freeport, Illinois

Freeport, Illinois

Freeport is a city in and the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...

. The house was built in 1857 and served as a "station" on the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

History

The Oscar Taylor House was built for Freeport banker and attorney Oscar Taylor in 1857. Taylor, the son of Speaker of the House John W. Taylor

John W. Taylor (politician)

John W. Taylor was an early 19th century U.S. politician from New York.-Life:He was born in 1784 in that part of the Town of Ballston, then in Albany County, New York, which was, upon the creation of Saratoga County in 1791, split off to form the Town of Charlton...

, opened Freeport's first bank in 1852. The house became a social and cultural center in Freeport, hosting many prominent guests. During the American Civil War the house was used as a station on the Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

. Fugitive slave

Fugitive slave

In the history of slavery in the United States, "fugitive slaves" were slaves who had escaped from their master to travel to a place where slavery was banned or illegal. Many went to northern territories including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts until the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed...

s were hidden in the basement behind a secret door fronted with shelving. The door still remains. The house was in the Taylor family until 1944 when it was gifted to form the Stephenson County Historical Society and turned into a historic house museum.

Architecture

The Taylor House is an Italianate stone house of locally quarried, rough-faced limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

. It was designed by Otis L. Wheelock of the Chicago firm, Boyington and Wheelock. The house was the first of Freeport's large houses. The house is two stories tall with a full basement

Basement

__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...

 and full attic

Attic

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

. It has a symmetrical plan but its symmetry is not plainly obvious because of the building's varied composition. It is topped by a cupola

Cupola

In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....

 above and a projecting kitchen wing below, and also possesses projecting polygonal bay

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

s and a rear sunroom. These factors make the structure's symmetry difficult to discern.

Historic significance

The Oscar Taylor House is significant in the areas of commerce and architecture. In the commerce area it is significant because of its association with Oscar Taylor, a prominent local businessman. It is also a good example of an Italianate mansion and was important as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Oscar Taylor House was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 May 11, 1984.

External links

• Oscar Taylor House, Property Information Report, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
  Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
  The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is tasked with the duty of maintaining most State-owned historic sites within Illinois, and maximizing their educational and recreational value to visitors....
  
  , accessed May 21, 2008.
• Stephenson County Historical Society, "The Museum", official site, accessed May 21, 2008.