The Archer House Hotel is a historic hotel located at 717 Archer Avenue in Marshall,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

William B. Archer William Beatty Archer (January 30, 1793 – August 9, 1870) was an Illinois politician and businessman. Archer was a member of the Illinois General Assembly from 1825 until 1843, during which time he also served on the state Board of Canal C ...

, the founder of Marshall, opened the hotel in 1841. The brick hotel was one of the most lavish buildings in the city upon its opening. As a stopping point for

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

lines, the hotel was also the city's social center and the first place to receive out-of-town news. Archer was a member of the

Illinois Legislature The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818 ...

for sixteen years and a friend and colleague of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. Lincoln regularly visited Marshall, and he stayed in the hotel during his visits. Another U.S. president,

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

, has also stayed at the hotel. The hotel was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on March 16, 1976. From 1933 to 1943, during the years when it was known as the National-Dixie Hotel, three of the rooms served as the Central Office of

Pi Beta Phi Pi Beta Phi (), often known simply as Pi Phi, is an international women's fraternity founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois on April 28, 1867 as I. C. Sorosis, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after ...

fraternity for Women. Marshall resident Beatrice Stephenson Purdunn, a Pi Beta Phi alumna from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

chapter. served as the Director of the Central Office.'' Arrow of Pi Beta Phi'', Spring 2017, page 60.

References

Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Hotel buildings completed in 1841 Buildings and structures in Clark County, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Clark County, Illinois {{ClarkCountyIL-NRHP-stub