Old Main, Knox College

Old Main, Knox College
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Old Main in winter
Location	Galesburg, Illinois
Coordinates
Built	1857
Architect	Charles Ulricson
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference #	66000323
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	July 4, 1961

Old Main at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, is the oldest building on the college campus, and the best preserved site of one of the 1858 senatorial debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Designed by Swedish-born-and-educated architect Charles Ulricson, it was inspired by Henry VIII's Hampton Court Palace in London, England.

A campus website describes it proudly: "Old Main is one of the most important pre-Civil War buildings in the Midwest. Built in the most respected style of the day—Gothic Revival—Old Main received high praise upon its completion in 1857 and is still recognized today as a building of architectural distinction. In addition to its status as a National Historic Landmark, Old Main expresses Knox's ongoing commitment to equal rights, democratic ideals, international excellence, an openness to new and old, and a mission to summon up the best in ourselves, as evidenced in Knox's Original Circular and Plan, which hangs on Old Main's first floor."

• Hampton Court Palace (3037990094).jpg

  Hampton Court Palace, London, England. Charles Ulricson's inspiration for Old Main.

External links

• Old Main, Knox College Website

Further reading

• R. Lance Factor (2010), Chapel in the Sky: Knox College's Old Main and Its Masonic Architect. University of Northern Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-87580-415-6