| Sauganash Hotel | |
|---|---|
 Sauganash Hotel, c. 1830–33 (the smaller building on the left was Chicago's firstdrug store) | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Completed | 1831; 194 years ago (1831) |
| Closed | 1851; 174 years ago (1851) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 2 |
Sauganash Hotel (originallyEagle Exchange Tavern) was a hotel regarded as the first hotel inChicago, Illinois. Built in 1831, the hotel was located atWolf Point in the present-dayLoopcommunity area at the intersection of the north, south and main branches of theChicago River. The location at West Lake Street and NorthWacker Drive (formerly Market Street) was designated aChicago Landmark on November 6, 2002.[1] The hotel has changed proprietors often in its twenty-year existence and briefly served as Chicago's first theater. It was named afterSauganash, an interpreter in the British Indian Department.
Mark and Monique Beaubien, the owners and builders of the hotel, were French Indian traders. In 1826 they moved to Chicago on the advice of Mark's elder brotherJean, an established trader who lived next toFort Dearborn. The Beaubiens settled in a small cabin on Wolf's Point and also traded with the Native Americans and other travelers to the growing settlement.[2] They built atavern on the east bank of the south branch of the Chicago River at the point where the north and south branches meet.[1][3][4]
The tavern initially was named the Eagle Exchange Tavern.[5] In 1831, they added a frame to the log structure to create Chicago's first hotel, the Sauganash Hotel.[3] When completed, it was one of only two residential structures on the south side of the main branch of the Chicago River, the other being that of his brother, Col. Jean B. Beaubien.[6] The settlement had only twelve houses at the time.[5] The hostelry immediately became famous,[7] and when reconstructed later became the city's largest and finest hotel.[4][8] Immediately adjacent to the hotel's public bar was Chicago's firstdrug store.[9]TheGreek Revival trim of the new hotel contrasted with the other eleven buildings of Chicago. The symmetry of its facade was typical to contemporary Greek Revival practiced on the East Coast.Juliette Kinzie, who came to Chicago fromConnecticut in 1831, described it as "a pretentious white two-story building, with bright blue wood shutters, the admiration of all the little circle at Wolf Point".[2] The hostelry's clientele transcended race, with natives and settlers enjoying each other's company.[10]
The flow of travelers and settlers intensified with the end of theBlack Hawk War in 1832.[2] In 1833 the hotel housed the election of the first town trustees of the newly formed Town of Chicago.[1] Beaubien kept the hotel until 1834 and during his ownership he regularly entertained guests with hisviolin.[8] On August 18, 1835, two years after thePotawatomi natives signed the treaty agreeing to be moved to areservation beyond theMississippi River in northwestern Missouri, they selected 800 braves to perform their lastwar dance parade on a path that passed in front of the hotel.[11][12][13]
In 1835, a Mr. Davis assumed control of the hotel, which subsequently had a series of proprietors.[8] The building briefly served as Chicago's firsttheater,[1] and hosted the first Chicago Theatre Company in November 1837 in an abandoned dining room.[14][15] By 1839, it returned to service as a hotel,[8] but was destroyed by fire in 1851,[1] and subsequently torn down.[16] TheWigwam was built in its place nine years later.[17]
Billy Caldwell "Sauganash", who served as aninterpreter for the Indian Agents,[18] was the honoree of the hotel.[8] Born in approximately 1780, "Sauganash" was half native-American whose father wasColonel Caldwell, an Irish officer in theBritish Army stationed at Detroit; his mother was aPottawatomi. He was schooled at aJesuit school in Detroit, where he learned English and French. Caldwell learned severalNative American languages. Billy Caldwell's Indian Name was "Straight Tree", but he was known by "Sauganash", meaning Englishman in thePotawatomi language. As a warrior, Sauganash was under the influence ofTecumseh until he died in 1813, and he rose to the level of a captain in the British Indian Department during theWar of 1812.[19]
In 1834 (three years before Chicago was incorporated as a city), the hotel hosted the first professional public performance in Chicago for $.50 (equivalent to $15.75 in 2024) for adults and $.25 (equivalent to $7.87 in 2024) for children. The show promised a wide variety of talents includingventriloquism. In the following two years, several traveling showmen performed at the hotel. In 1837, the Chicago Theater, which was the first local theater company, set up shop in the hotel's abandoned dining room. Co-managers Harry Isherwood and Alexander McKinzie procured an amusement license for the company from the city council, and it began performing a different billed show every night starting in late October or early November for approximately six weeks. The plays included titlesThe Idiot Witness, The Stranger, andThe Carpenter of Rouen. Production ofThe Stranger took place in thedining room of the hotel.[20] Following a six-week engagement, the company went on tour until the following spring, when it returned to a different local venue.[14]
41°53′7.3″N87°38′11.2″W / 41.885361°N 87.636444°W /41.885361; -87.636444
