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Residents asked to spot area Meskers

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 9:20 PM CST

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is offering a chance for residents to play history detective and locate more of the state's "Meskers" - distinctive ornamental iron facades or storefront components.

A Web site developed by IHPA, www.gotmesker.com, features a new Google Earth map of every known Mesker building in the country, and organizers are asking citizens across America to locate additional Meskers in their communities that can then be added to the map.

The ironwork is found on buildings from the late 1800s to early 1900s; it was produced by the Mesker Brothers Iron Works of St. Louis and the George L. Mesker Co of Evansville, Ind. The companies were owned by brothers but operated independently.

The Web site features a Mesker identification guide as well as 1903, 1904 and 1906 catalogs of Mesker building components.

Among 16 photos on the Web site are Meskers in Elizabethtown, Golconda, New Minden, Pinckneyville, Vandalia and Metropolis.

"The Web site shows people what Mesker components look like and how to determine if they have one of these historic structures in their community," said Darius Bryjka of the IHPA, who launched an effort in May 2005 to identify commercial buildings in Illinois with Mesker facades.

More than 570 Mesker buildings have been identified so far in Illinois; more than 2,600 are featured on the nationwide map. It's estimated that at one point there were more than 45,000 Mesker installations nationwide.

The products included facades, fences, skylights and freight elevators; they could be ordered from the catalogs and were easily shipped by rail. They also were less expensive than carved stone or terra cotta. The galvanized steel and cast iron gave the Mesker components the ability to survive neglect.

- The Southern