John W. Cook Hall

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“Cook Hall, or Cook Hall, is a building that resembles a castle on the Quad of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Cook Hall, named for the university's fourth president, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since the winter of 1986.”
Wikipedia article John W. Cook Hall, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 35 National Register listings published here for McLean County · listed in 1986 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Cook, John W., Hall - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Illinois State University, US 51, Normal, 61761
When was it listed? February 1986
Category. building
Township. Normal township
National Register reference number. 86000268 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of John W. Cook Hall: 3 past producers, 1 plant, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Normal City Pit	Stone	Past Producer
Baugh Pit & Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Plant
Market Street Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Rowe Pit No. 3	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Rowe Pit No.2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in McLean County

Storms near this property

56 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Normal, the town this property stands in, in 56 storm reports between 1999 and 2026: 25 hail, 23 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
November 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$225,000	A tree was blown down and numerous roofs were damaged near the Illinois State University campus in Normal.
August 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$100,000	Several large tree branches and a small tree were blown down in Normal. In Lexington, at least 16 homes were damaged. Several reports of trees and tree limbs down were received, with some of the trees falling onto vehicles, causing damage. Damage estimates were around $100,000.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$90,000	Several large tree branches were blown down.
May 2016	Lightning	Normal	$60,000	Lightning struck a home on Ogelthorpe Avenue in Normal on May 26th at around 7:30 AM CDT. As a result of the strike, a fire broke out in the attic of the home. Damage was estimated at about $60,000.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$30,000	A large tree was blown down onto 2 homes near Constitution Trail.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$25,000	A portion of the Wilkins Hall roof was torn off and thrown onto an apartment on the campus of Illinois State University.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$25,000	Large tree limbs were blown down.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	$15,000	Trees were blown down onto powerlines on the north side of Normal.
May 2023	Flash Flood	Normal	$5,000	Cars were stalled in flood water at the 500 block of North Fell Avenue.
March 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A power pole was snapped.
July 2025	Flash Flood	Normal	-	Water was flowing across the road near the intersection of College Avenue and Linden Street in Normal.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large spruce tree was snapped off on Center Street.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A trained weather spotter estimated a wind gust of 60mph.
May 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large tree was snapped at the base.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Numerous large tree branches were blown down throughout Normal.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large tree limb was blown onto power lines at West College Avenue and Keiser Avenue in Normal.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large tree was blown down near the intersection of Kingsley Street and Dale Street in Normal prompting the closure of Kingsley Street.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Normal	-	Eight to twelve inches of water flooded the road near the 1000 block of North School Street in Normal. At least two vehicles stalled in the high water.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Normal	-	North Fell Avenue was flooded north of Willow Street in Normal.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large tree was blown onto a house.
July 2019	Flash Flood	Normal	-	Several streets were flooded on the north side of Normal. Vehicles were submerged in high water at School and Summit Street, Fell Avenue and Willow Street, and at Mulberry and Linden Street.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A large tree was blown down at the intersection of College Avenue and Grove Street, blocking traffic.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Tree branches were blown down near the intersection of Fort Jesse Road and Towanda Avenue.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A fence was blown over and a mailbox was torn off its post.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Numerous trees and power lines were blown down.
January 2005	Flash Flood	Normal	-	Many streets were flooded in town.
July 2004	Tornado (F0)	Normal	-	A tornado briefly touched down in a field. No damage or injuries were reported.
July 2004	Hail	Normal	-	A large swath of hail fell from the northwest portions of McLean County southeastward to Saybrook. Most of the hail ranged in size from three quarters of an inch to one and three quarters of an inch. Four and one quarter inch hail was reported in Hudson.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	A downburst hit a large section of the Bloomington/Normal area. An 88 mph wind gust was measured at the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington. Numerous large trees were blown down, some of which fell onto a few homes causing minor to moderate roof damage. Also, numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down. Some homes sustained shingle damage and several sheds were destroyed. No injuries were reported.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down several large tree limbs and power lines.
August 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Several trees were blown down.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Normal	-	Several power lines were blown down in Normal.
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
May 2025	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
July 2024	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
September 2022	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
July 2020	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
July 2017	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
November 2013	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
November 2013	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
February 2011	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
February 2011	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
March 2005	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
March 2005	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
July 2002	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
April 2001	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
August 2001	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed
August 2000	Hail	Normal	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in McLean County

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

6 within 8 miles

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.

Property	Distance	Listed
Normal Theater	0.3 miles	1997
Sprague's Super Service	0.8 miles	2008
Margaret and Bird Van Leer Broadview Mansion	0.9 miles	2016
Camelback Bridge	0.9 miles	1997
Cedar Crest Addition Historic District	1.0 miles	2006
Fairview Sanatorium	1.0 miles	2021

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86000268 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
McLean County	All 35 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.
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.