Old Main Contends for State "Wonder"

Knox College's Old Main is in the running as one of "Seven Wonders of Illinois," a promotional campaign by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. The sole remaining site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, Old Main is 150 years old this year.

The Bureau of Tourism said it was "looking for... interesting, beautiful or just plain quirky Land of Lincoln destinations." Votes are tabulated weekly, and winners will be announced April 30.

Old Main is more than a historic site, according to Karrie Heartlein, director of public relations. The building is also an active educational facility, with classrooms serving a half-dozen academic departments, faculty and administrative offices, and public spaces.  "Old Main has been in continuous use for 150 years," Heartlein told the Galesburg Register-Mail.

Knox students and employees have been encouraged to vote for Old Main, as have Knox alumni, who received an e-mail campaign message from the College's Office of Alumni Relations.

Old Main is one of five Knox campus buildings listed in the Historic Campus Architecture Project, a new on-line database created by the Council of Independent Colleges.

Old Main was built in 1857, designed by Charles Ulricson. "Given its size, Old Main was a real architectural landmark and marvel in this part of Illinois at the time," said Knox College librarian Jeffrey Douglas.

Old Main's "elaborate geometric patterns and proportions combine with striking vertical visual elements to emphasize the height of the building on the prairie landscape," Douglas wrote in the descriptive notes in the database. The interior was renovated during the 1930s and the exterior during the 1990s. It houses faculty and administrative offices and classrooms for the humanities.

In addition to Old Main, other original nominees in the region were Bishop Hill, a Swedish colony in Henry County; the Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island; Dickson Mounds, a museum and archeological site in Fulton County; Historic Nauvoo, a community founded by Mormons in the 1830s; the John Deere Pavilion and Collectors Center in Rock Island; the Rock Island Arsenal, located on an island in the Mississippi River, and Wildlife Prairie State Park, a state park near Peoria.

As of March 19, the remaining candidates were Old Main, Nauvoo, Bishop Hill and Wildlife Prairie Park.