Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership | |
Location in Illinois | |
Location | 431 S. Fourth St., Springfield, Illinois |
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Coordinates | 39°47′51″N 89°39′4″W / 39.79750°N 89.65111°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Architect | Harry Reiger |
Architectural style | Early Commercial |
NRHP reference No. | 06000450[1] |
Added to NRHP | May 31, 2006 |
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.[2] Today, the building houses an operations center for Illinois National Bank.[3]
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 2006.[1]