Aledo Mercer Building c. 1910
Title
Aledo Mercer Building c . 1910
Photo Number
003211.JPG
Collection
Digital Image Collection (Western Illinois University)
Subject Heading
Aledo--Buildings (Mercer Building)
Description
The Button House , located at the intersection of College and Seventh streets . Today East Seventh Street would be East Main Street . The Mercer Building which stands today on the corner of College and Seventh streets is probably one of the oldest buildings still in use in Aledo . History conflicts somewhat with its account of the buildings occupying the site , saying on one Barton House first occupied the spot while earlier records indicate that the Barton House was erected on the north side of Seventh Street near Maple . The Barton House , which was the first hotel , was erectd by Willits and Thompson , the town's proprietors , the carpenters while building it boarded with a farmer living near the town site . Though it seems a bit unusual that a hotel should be the first building to be put up in the town perhaps the proprietors felt that in order for the town to grow there must he a place to house its builders . J.E . Harroun was the first landlord of the hotel , but for some reason it got its name from the second landlord , a man named Barton who came to Aledo from Moline . In the latter part of the 1860s the hotel was closed for about two years and at the end of that time was opened by Amos Willits . It was afterward sold to G.A . Luvin who leased it to several persons , then sold it to Schuyler Button . A fire completely destroyed the building in November of 1867 , but within a few days a new structure was begun on the same site and was this time known as the Button House . Ten years later the tornado which hit Aledo shook the windows from the hotel , but little damage was done to the rest of it . Button kept the hotel for some time , then leased it , and finally sold the building . Sometime before 1896 , the hotel was purchased by a man named Livermore who had leased the Transit House here in 1893 , and it became the Livermore Hotel , newly papered , painted , and with electric lights throughout . Along in the early 1900s , the Livermore went out of business and the building was taken over by the post office and several stores on the ground floor , and a hall on the third . It was about this time that it became known as the Mercer Building , and it served as the post office until the new post office was erected . The above item about the Button House came from a pamphlet published by the Aledo newspaper the Times Record .
Source/Publisher/Donor
Courtesy of Mercer County Historical Society
Aux. Photo# Other
003211.TIF
Location of Original Photo
Photo File--Aledo Folder--Aledo--Buildings
Rights
WIU Libraries Archives & Special Collections -- All Rights Reserved. For permission to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise use this image, contact the WIU Archives and Special Collections at malpass-archives@wiu.edu.
Timestamp
20060321131204
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Digital Image Collection (Western Illinois University)
