Landmarks grant supports efforts to save Richmond’s oldest building

At barely four years old, the W.A. McConnell Foundation is a relatively new organization dedicated to preserving and protecting Richmond’s history. The building it plans to use for offices and a museum is not.

The Olde No. 90, aka the Charles Cotting house at 10328 N. Main St., dates back to 1844. A recent grant from Landmarks Illinois could keep it standing for another 180 years and give the foundation the space it wants.

“The hope is [that] after it is stabilized and protected, the bottom floor would be a museum that exemplifies the area and its history,” said Allison Kessel Clark, the foundation’s vice president.

The $3,000 Landmarks Illinois grant paid for the installation of steel beams to reinforce the building’s foundation. It is the second Landmarks Illinois grant that the Richmond-based foundation has received since its founding, Clark said. The first grant paid for the engineering costs associated with the foundation stabilization, Clark said, adding that “the steel beam work does the heavy lifting to stabilize the building.”

It was important to the foundation – which purchased the house in August 2021 to save it from possible demolition – that the stone foundation still was visible after the work was done.

“We could have poured concrete walls to cover it up and make it solid, but that defeats the purpose [of restoration work],” Clark said. “The steel beams create a skeleton to hold the building up. If some stones fall, the building would not fall over.”

Those stones also are local.

“Cotting used stone to begin constructing the foundation of his family home – stone likely pulled from the nearby Nippersink [Creek], probably plentiful in Richmond’s infancy,” according to a post about the building on the W.A. McConnell Foundation’s Facebook page.

Solidifying Olde No. 90′s foundation also helps the young organization put down its own roots, foundation President Adam Metz said.

“It will be a place for people to visit and learn about our community and the surrounding area and its history,” Metz said.

The group itself formed as members protested Richmond’s sale of Memorial Hall – a building constructed thanks to a bequest from the McConnell family. The Cotting house sits just north of what is now called the District at Memorial Hall on Main Street.

“Most people would just be looking at tearing it down. But as the oldest structure in the community, it represents what we are trying to do – to preserve our historical landmarks,” Metz said.

William McConnell, according to the group’s website, was an early nonnative settler who traveled from Pennsylvania and, when he “set his gaze upon the North brand of the Nippersink Creek ... he quickly knew this was the place he wanted to call home and start his family.” He went on to be postmaster, commissioner, judge and founder of Richmond Bank and several other businesses.

“William McConnell passed away in 1887, but his legacy lives on in our community and in the original mid-19th century relics sprinkled in and around the town,” according to the site. “Our quaint, unique village is known throughout the region for its historic buildings, unique character and quaint charm not found in most other suburban Illinois towns.”

Charles Cotting is considered one of the founders of Richmond who, along with John Purdy, platted the town in 1844, according to the village’s website.

There are more fundraisers on the way to help fund other restoration projects, including the home’s front porch. A craft beer event is set for Sept. 7 on the grounds of Olde No. 90. Details are forthcoming and will be posted to the foundation’s website at wamcconnellfoundation.org.