According to a Sanborn fire insurance map from 1918, this was a hoosiery factory, built in 1917 for the Rockford Knitting & Hosiery Co. The website Spokeo also says the building is from 1917. Now we know.
A bar was here later: A Budweiser neon sign occurs in the center window.
I hoped Google Streetview would tell us what the awning's sign used to say, but no. The vine blob developed sometime after August 2012.
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In downtown Freeport, Illinois, on August 15th, 2021, 301 S Van Buren Ave at the southeast corner of South Van Buren Avenue and West Jackson Street.
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Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names terms:
• Freeport (2027931)
• Stephenson (county) (2027931)
Art & Architecture Thesaurus terms:
• awnings (300254200)
• bars (commercial buildings) (300005158)
• brick (clay material) (300010463)
• commercial buildings (300005147)
• concrete blocks (300374976)
• factories (structures) (300006232)
• glass block (300374977)
• gray (color) (300130811)
• infills (filled lacunae areas) (300264840)
• paint (coating) (300015029)
• repurposing (300417716)
• summer (season) (300133099)
• textile mills (300006321)
• utility poles (300006446)
• vines (300132406)
• Vitaceae (300389834)
• white (color) (300129784)
Wikidata items:
• 15 August 2021 (Q69306145)
• 1910s in architecture (Q11185482)
• 1917 in architecture (Q2744811)
• August 15 (Q2774)
• August 2021 (Q61313033)
• Northern Illinois (Q7058402)
• Northwestern Illinois (Q7060327)
• Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Q157979)
• Rockford-Freeport-Rochelle, IL Combined Statistical Area (Q114359532)
• Third Treaty of Prairie du Chien (Q27989231)
• Treaty of St. Louis (Q28433157)
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
• Clothing factories (sh85027170)
• Commercial buildings—Illinois (sh89006915)
• Urban plants (sh85141312)