The Elliott C. Jones house at 1423 Gregory is significant because of its identification with a prominent citizen who contributed to the culture and historical development of the Village of Wilmette. Built in 1893, the house served as home to E. C. Jones until he died, and it remained in the family until Mary B. Jones (very likely his daughter) sold the property in 1946. While he lived on Gregory, Jones built one of the Village’s most historically important building, “Wilmette Hall”, also referred to as “Jones Hall”, the “Wilmette Lodge Hall” and the “Oddfellow’s Hall” at 1215 Wilmette Avenue (the southwest corner of Wilmette Avenue and Green Bay Road) and served on the Wilmette Village Board. It is unfortunate that Wilmette Hall has been so considerably altered, with modern window and door treatment, permastone siding, Tudor Half timbering and aluminum siding. Practically nothing remains to reflect the date when it was built or its original use. The structure with the greatest integrity that is associated with Jones, despite some alterations, is his home at 1423 Gregory.

Jones purchased 75’ of land for $12,500, and Wilmette Hall was completed in November of 1901. His idea was to build a meeting place for Village activities. “Old Library Hall” or “Arcaneum Hall,” at the corner of Wilmette and Central Avenues, had been inadequate and was slated for demolition. The structure that he built at Green Bay Road and Wilmette Avenue was a multi’ use building. In contained a hall that accommodated a variety of activities, including dances, concerts, banquets, school graduations and lodge meetings. The Wilmette Woman’s Club took rooms on the second floor. The A.T. Sherman Lodge of I.O.O.F. first met there on December 7, 1901. Because the meeting room was the only large space available in Wilmette, many of the social activities in the early 1900s centered around the use of the Wilmette Hall. E.C. Jones was the secretary of the 117-member Wilmette Athletic Association; promoting his interest in sports, he leased the west room of the new building as a gymnasium and constructed a bowling alley in the basement. Shops were located on the ground floor.

Wilmette Hall was built by Jones at a time when the Village was enjoying physical expansion and population growth. In 1872, incorporation of Wilmette came to a vote, and the first Village government was formed. Although it took only 37 (of 42) votes to create the Village, by 1880 the population was 419 by 1890 it was 1458 and by 1900, when Jones built his hall, it was 2300. He developed on of the Village’s most important building as a time when it was most needed.
Jones had moved to his home at 1423 Gregory in Wilmette in 1893. Almost immediately he became active in the community, serving as a Village trustee in 1895 and 1896. His listing in the 1893 Wilmette Directory notes that he is living with his wife Josephine on Gregory near 15th Avenue. Apparently homes were not yet given numbers, which they had by the time the 1904-05 Wilmette, Kenilworth & Gross Point Directory was published. He is described in the 1893 listing as the manager of the Illinois State Broom Factory in Chicago. By the time of his listing in 1917-18 Village of Wilmette Street Directory, Jones had become president of U.S. Broom & Brush Company. It is assumed that by 1925 Jones had died; the Wilmette Directory listing for 1423 Gregory shows Edward and Mary Witteborg living there. It can be assumed that Mary B. Jones, whose name appears in the 1946 title transfer, was married to Edward Wetteborg.

Jones’ house was built in an area that was platted as McDaniel’s Subdivision in 1880. Alexander McDaniel, along with John G. Westerfield (the Village’s first president) and John Gage, were among Wilmette’s earliest settlers. Prior to this subdivision, which has never been resubdivided, the area where the Jones House is located at the western edge (15th Street) of the original 1280-acre land grant known as the Ouilmette Reservation.

Today the Jones House stands to remind us of a piece of early Wilmette History. It is a 1-1/2 story Queen Anne style house. Queen Anne houses are asymmetrical, with irregularly shaped facades and roofs. They frequently have gables, dormers and polygonal towers. Wrap-around porches were common. This simplified example, which was probably stuccoed in the 1920s, has a projecting front bay, a picturesque roofline and a third floor dormer. The roof of the broad front of 1423 Gregory in the Queen Anne subtype known as “Free Classic”; in this subtype, classical columns rather than delicate turned posts with spindlework detailing, form the porch supports. The inside has beautiful period door and window casings with decorative corner blocks, that have been faithfully reproduced in new openings created when the house was remodeled at the rear.

Because of this home’s association with Elliott C. Jones, it has historical significance to the Village of Wilmette. Its style, typical of the period, has sufficient integrity to reflect the time period when Jones built it, developed one of the Village’s early important public buildings and served on the community’s Village Board.