BlockFrom the record
One of 17 National Register listings published here for Jo Daviess County · listed in 2022 · category: Building.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Bishop's Busy Big Store-Lyric Opera House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 137 North Main St., Elizabeth, 61028
- When was it listed? August 2022
- Category. building
- Township. Elizabeth township
- National Register reference number. 100008001 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
The ground it stands on
13,991 wordsThe chapter on Elizabeth Township in The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878 names Elizabeth. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The Village of Elizabeth is situated near the township line, between the Townships of Elizabeth and Woodbine. The historical fort of the Black Hawk War was situated near the same line ; and, in fact, the history.of the two townships maintain, throughout, such intimate connection that it is thought advisable to unite them in our historical sketch.
Passage source: The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878.
The valley probably had no white visitor until the coming of A. P. Van Matre, in 1825. The. legend is current that Mr. Van Matre was asked by an Indian girl whom he met, what he was seeking for. Upon replying that he was prospecting for mineral, he received the proposal, that if he would marry her, she would show him a good lead of mineral. He, doubtless, considered the bargain a very good one, and accepted it, when he was made acquainted with the diggings in the hollow, near Elizabeth, which have received his name. Here, on the bank of the river, he built the first smelting furnace in that part of the county, and also built a house on the opposite side of the river, where he continued to live and mine. The diggings were not exhausted for more than a dozen years.
Passage source: The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Constitution of the United States, published 1878.
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 Elizabeth Township - 13,991 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Fires near this property
10 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Bishop's Busy Big Store-Lyric Opera House between 2008 and 2010, burning about 32 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | WURSTER |
| 12 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | ELECTRIC |
| 16 July 2010 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | TREE |
| 5 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HASS |
| 23 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | HANOVER2 |
| 2 April 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | WHEELERIGHT |
| 25 March 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | BALDERINI |
| 18 March 2010 | Debris and open burning | 15 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | WOODBINE |
Mines and quarries near this property
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Bishop's Busy Big Store-Lyric Opera House: 5 past producers, 3 unknowns, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Lead, Zinc, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zinc, Lead. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haggerty Mine | Zinc, Lead | Unknown | Galena, Sphalerite | |
| Kansas Mine | Lead, Zinc | Unknown | Galena, Sphalerite | |
| Brown Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Brudi Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Illinois Mine | Lead, Zinc | Unknown | Galena, Sphalerite | |
| Skene Mine | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1901, 1907 | |
| Wishon Mine | Lead, Zinc | Past Producer | 1865, 1910 | |
| Haggerty Mine | Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Illinois Mine | Lead | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
21 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elizabeth, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 13 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | 2 hurt | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | Elizabeth | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds damaged a porch in East Dubuque and knocked down trees at Menominee. Large hail damaged cars and siding at Elizabeth. |
| July 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | $3,000 | Local law enforcement reported windows were blown out and a deck was severely damaged on a house. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | $3,000 | trees and corn down |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | Spotter estimated wind gust. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | A public report of large tree branches down and garden corn flattened. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | A public report estimating 60 MPH winds at the leading edge of the line of storms with low visibility. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | Tree limbs down near Highway 20 and Elizabeth Scales Mound Road, relayed by law enforcement. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | A trained spotter reported an 8 inch diameter tree limb down. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | A large tree was blown down along Highway 20. |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | A State Official reported trees were blown down on the southeast side of Elizabeth. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | Some dead trees were observed blown down. |
| June 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | Tree branches were blown down. |
| July 2011 | Heavy Rain | Elizabeth | - | As of 517 am CDT July 28, the 12 hour rainfall total near Elizabeth, IL was 9.35 inches. The rainfall total since July 21 was 15.97 inches. |
| July 2011 | Heavy Rain | Elizabeth | - | As of 630 am CDT July 28, the 24 hour rainfall total in Elizabeth, IL was 9.52 inches. |
| September 2010 | Hail | Elizabeth | - | Quarter-sized hail fell in Elizabeth, IL between 310 pm CDT and 315 pm CDT September 21. |
| March 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Elizabeth | - | Sheriffs department reported many trees down, some blocking roads in the Elizabeth area. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Elizabeth | - | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Hail | Elizabeth | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Hail | Elizabeth | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Elizabeth | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
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.
Listed places nearby
2 within 8 milesOther 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Chicago Great Western Railroad Depot | 0.1 miles | 1996 |
 | Apple River Fort Site | 0.4 miles | 1997 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100008001 in Record Group 79. |
| Jo Daviess County | All 17 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.