Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership | |
Location: | 431 S. Fourth St., Springfield, Illinois |
Coordinates: | 39.7975°N -89.6511°W |
Architect: | Harry Reiger |
Architecture: | Early Commercial |
Added: | May 31, 2006 |
Area: | less than one acre |
Refnum: | 06000450 |
The Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership is a historic automobile dealership located at 431 South 4th Street in Springfield, Illinois. Ford dealer Frank Jennings built the dealership in 1919. The automobile became widespread in Springfield in the 1910s; Jennings Ford was one of several dealerships to open on South 4th Street, which was then the city's automobile row. The three-story building integrated every major function of an auto dealership at the time; it included a sales floor, a service center, a car wash, a storage garage, and a repainting facility. While Jennings Ford closed between 1927 and 1933, the building remained a car dealership through the 1950s. It is one of the few remaining dealership buildings in downtown Springfield and is the best-preserved of the survivors.[1] Today, the building houses an operations center for Illinois National Bank.[2]
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 2006.