Chicago’s first hotel was called the Sauganash. It was built in 1831 and before it became a hotel it was originally known as the Eagle Exchange Tavern. It was located at Wolf Point at the intersection of the north, south and main branches of the Chicago River at Lake Street and Wacker Drive. The area where the Sauganash Hotel stood was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002. The hotel operated there for about 20 years, and also briefly served as Chicago’s first theater.
The hotel was named after Billy Caldwell “Sauganash”. Sauganash was an interpreter for the Indian Agents. His mother was Pottawatomi Indian and his father was Colonel Caldwell, an Irish officer in the British Army in Detroit.
The hotel was built by owners Mark and Monique Beaubien, who were French Indian traders. They settled in a small cabin at Wolf Point in 1826 and started the Eagle Exchange Tavern. In 1831 they added a frame onto the log structure and created the Sauganash Hotel. The settlement consisted of only about 12 houses at the time and the hotel was only one of two buildings on the south side of the main branch of the river.
It has been described as a white two story frame building with bright blue wood shutters. Its facade was contemporary Greek Revival. The hotel’s guests included both natives and settlers. In 1833 the Sauganash housed the election of the first town trustees of the new Town of Chicago. The Beaubiens owned the hotel until 1834. In 1835 it was sold to a Mr. Davis. It was briefly a theater at that time and in 1837 it hosted the first Chicago Theater company. In 1839 it became a hotel again but it was destroyed by a fire in 1851 and torn down. The Wigwam Hotel was built there in its place in 1860. The Wigwam was a convention center that was the site of the 1860 Republican National Convention where President Abraham Lincoln received his party’s nomination and eventual presidency.
- Note- Photos are from Wikipedia in the public domain
Very interesting.
Thanks