Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership

Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	431 S. Fourth St., Springfield, Illinois
Coordinates	39°47′51″N 89°39′4″W / 39.79750°N 89.65111°WCoordinates: 39°47′51″N 89°39′4″W / 39.79750°N 89.65111°W
Area	less than one acre
Architectural style	Early Commercial
NRHP Reference #	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, and Jennings Ford was one of several dealerships to open on South 4th Street, 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]

References

1. National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Gihl, Tom (October 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Jennings Ford Automobile Dealership" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
3. http://blog.illinoisnationalbank.com/operations-center-inbs-21st-century-electronic-vault/