Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
“House is a Prairie School residence in Elmhurst, Illinois. It was one of the first independent commissions for Walter Burley Griffin.”
Wikipedia article William H. Emery Jr. House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 50 National Register listings published here for DuPage County · listed in 2004 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
This property stands in York Township. History Of Dupage County (1857), published 1857 gives that township a chapter of its own.
The chapter covers the township.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on York Township - 2,155 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Emery, Jr., William H., House in 2005, burning under an acre in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 June 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Emery, Jr., William H., House: 8 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Village of Lombard Pit | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| A C O'Laughlin Stone Co Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Bellwood Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Elmhurst Portable Plant #1 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Elmhurst Underground No. 1 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Melrose Park City Eng. - Own Crews | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Northlake City Eng. - Own Crews | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Limestone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| West Chester City Eng. - Own Crews | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elmhurst, the town this property stands in, in 30 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 16 thunderstorm wind, 6 flood, 5 hail, 2 flash flood. The reports record 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | 3 hurt, $100,000 | Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. A woman was seriously injured when a tree fell on her car on Prairie Avenue. Another tree fell on car, injuring the driver at York Street and St. Charles Road. A tree was blown down onto a city vehicle on Fairview, where the driver was injured. Two other people were injured when they entered their flooded basements. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | 1 hurt | One hundred trees were blown down or damaged. A man was injured by a falling tree limb. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | $25,000 | Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Elmhurst. Several trees were blown down onto cars causing damage, including a large tree that fell onto a car on Poplar Avenue. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Elmhurst | $2,000 | Flooding was reported in numerous areas in Elmhurst. Multiple roads were flooded near North Avenue and Interstate 294. Two to three feet of water was reported on streets near the intersection of North Avenue and North York Street. An underpass on Robert Palmer Drive was flooded near 1st Street. Water entered a nearby apartment building and parking garage. Basement flooding was also reported. A personal weather station reported 2.28 inches of rain in one hour on the southeast side of Elmhurst and another personal weather station reported 2.10 inches of rain in one hour on the northeast side of Elmhurst. |
| July 2010 | Lightning | Elmhurst | $2,000 | Lightning struck a utility pole on Church Street. Wires and a ceramic insulator fell off the pole and onto a car, smashing both the front and back windows. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | $2,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down. |
| July 2025 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | Standing water 12 to 18 inches deep was reported on multiple side streets and intersections in and around the South Sunnyside Avenue and Olive Street area. |
| July 2024 | Flash Flood | Elmhurst | - | Several feet of water was reported covering North Avenue near Interstate 290. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Several tree limbs up to 6 inches in diameter were snapped off of trees. |
| May 2022 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | York Street was closed due to flooding near 3rd Street. North Avenue was closed due to flooding between York Street and Interstate 290. The Interstate 290 interchange ramp was closed due to flooding at North Avenue. |
| July 2022 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | An underpass was flooded and impassible in Elmhurst. Measured rainfall of 2.47 inches was reported in one hour between 4:15 am and 5:15 am CST. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Half of a tree was blown down onto a road. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | A photo shared on social media showed large tree limbs blown down west of Elmhurst University. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Large tree limbs were blown down. |
| June 2021 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | Ramp flooding was reported at the interchange of Interstate 290 and North Avenue. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Elmhurst. |
| September 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | A one foot diameter tree was blown down. |
| May 2018 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | A flooded underpass in downtown Elmhurst was blocked off by police. |
| June 2018 | Flood | Elmhurst | - | Two flood prone viaducts were closed due to flooding. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Large trees were blown down. Wind gusts were estimated to 80 mph. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | Winds were estimated to 65 mph and blew down trees on portions of York Street and Prospect Avenue. |
| October 2006 | Hail | Elmhurst | - | Nickel size hail was reported at Grand and York Avenue. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Elmhurst | - | Reported at Interstate 290 and Route 83. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
| May 1994 | Hail | Elmhurst | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Frank B. Henderson House | under 500 feet | 2002 |
 | William and Jennette Sloane House | under 500 feet | 2016 |
 | John L. Pentecost House | 0.2 miles | 2003 |
 | Robinwood | 0.2 miles | 2004 |
 | Hauptgebaude | 0.4 miles | 1976 |
 | Villa Avenue Train Station | 1.6 miles | 1986 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 04000421 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| DuPage County | All 50 listed properties in this county. |
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