Downey Building

Located midway on a straight line between Chicago and St. Louis, Atlanta was a natural transportation and commercial center for central Illinois.  By 1856, the site was something of a boom town with more than 40 commercial buildings, all built of wood. Therein lay a problem. During the following few years, several fires razed complete blocks of the commercial district, convincing local businesspeople, including Alexander Downey, who lost a building to one of the fires, to rebuild with brick. Completed in 1867,the Downey Building was one of the first and most impressive of Atlanta’s brick buildings. Of Italianate design with distinctive arched windows on both of its two stories, the building helped give Arch Street its flavor and its name.