To spot the Chick House, just look for a three-story brick building with arched windows and a long, green awning stretching across the front, nestled between taller buildings on Main Street.
Now, imagine yourself standing on a busy street corner in 1857, the air humming with the clip-clop of horses and merchants bargaining nearby. You’re at the heart of old Rockford, right where the Chick House first opened its doors. Built by three ambitious locals with a passion for business-a doctor and two bankers-this place was a beacon of comfort for weary travelers. At first, it went by the rather serious-sounding “Griggs House,” but things took a friendlier turn in 1888, when a man named Thomas Chick bought the property and modestly rebranded it after himself. Nothing like putting your own last name up in lights, right?
Picture that green awning just above you-it wasn’t always part of the building, but you can thank Rockford’s city crew in 2004 for wrapping it around the corner to keep out the rain. The red-orange bricks you see rising above were shaped in a time when Italianate style was just starting to edge out the older, stately Greek Revival fashion. That simple, symmetrical shape? Greek Revival. The tall, narrow windows with arched tops? Pure Italianate flair, showing off the style's rising popularity in the 1850s. Even the brick frieze up top seems to wave hello to passersby, challenging the much flashier Richardson Romanesque Stewart Building next door.
On the ground floor, signs for office supplies stand where guests once checked in and dined on hearty meals. If you listen closely, you might just catch the echoes of laughter from Sunday diners vying for savory roasts in the early 1900s. In fact, back then, the Chick House and the Nelson House were the top hotels in town-Chick’s rates started at $1.50 per night, while the fancy Nelson was a whole 50 cents pricier. Ballers back in the day!
After Thomas Chick’s time, the hotel danced through a string of owners and purposes-one day a hotel, another day an office supply and hardware store. In 1929, it was revived as the Elms Hotel, giving travelers and boarders another place to rest their tired feet until 1951. Then, as businesses came and went and Rockford’s streets bustled on, the old Chick House stood firm.
By 2004, the building’s story almost hit a sour note, but the city wasn’t about to let this slice of Rockford’s character crumble. Repairs were done, Plexiglas windows slapped in, and the green awning raised again-a little facelift to keep the old place standing tall through rain and shine.
Take a look at those brick walls. You’re looking at one of only three pre-Civil War commercial buildings left in downtown Rockford-and the only one that never lost its original charm. If these bricks had frequent flyer miles, they’d win, having seen guests, grocers, Sunday feasts, and maybe the occasional shoe emergency. And today, the Chick House is rightfully honored as a Rockford Landmark and listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
So, tip your hat to the house that survived over a century-and-a-half of change, and just maybe, imagine arriving for a night in 1902-with a whole $1.50 to spend on some good old-fashioned Rockford hospitality!
