The Pierre Menard House, located in

Ellis Grove, Illinois Ellis Grove is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 328 at the 2020 census. Geography Ellis Grove is located at (38.010394, -89.908123). According to the 2010 census, Ellis Grove ...

U.S.A. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, was the home of

Pierre Menard Pierre Menard (7 October 1766 – 13 June 1844) was a fur trader and U.S. political figure. Pierre Menard was born at St. Antoine-sur-Richelieu, near Montreal, Canada, third in a family of ten children. His father was Jean Baptiste Ménard, ...

, a trader who became the first lieutenant governor of

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 ...

from 1818 to 1822.

History

Pierre Menard was born near

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec on October 7, 1766. The third of ten children, Menard sought to make his fortune by trading furs in what was then "

Illinois Country The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...

". Leaving his home in Canada with two of his brothers at approximately the age of 15, he worked for Francois Vigo of Vincennes, IN as a clerk moving to Kaskaskia in March 1790. Having become a successful businessman by the age of thirty, Menard went on to become a successful U.S. political figure, eventually becoming the first lieutenant governor of Illinois, after having served as the presiding officer of the Illinois Territorial Legislature. Despite his various political accolades, including delegate to the Indiana Territorial Legislature, regimental Major, and being one of the select few chosen to help draft Illinois' first constitution, Pierre Menard is still remembered to this day for his good-natured will and for his generosity towards the poor. The land was purchased sometime in 1802 according to records and family and the house itself construction began sometime later that year. It is an illustration of the Southern French Colonial (sometimes referred to as "Creole") and has various features which highlight this, including its beautiful Gallery (porch). The house is located within only a few hundred yards of the Mississippi River which during Pierre's time would have been the Kaskaskia River. Due to the annual flooding and erosion, the rest of the original town of

Kaskaskia, Illinois Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois. Having been inhabited by indigenous peoples, it was settled by France as part of the Illinois Country. It was named for the Kaskaskia people. Its population peaked at about 7,000 in the 18th c ...

' first capital, has been washed away. The Pierre Menard House now stands as the only testament to where the first state capital once stood in its original place. Preserved by the state as the Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site, it contains a museum which includes audio-visual program. The museum is devoted to the Menard family, as well as local history, and is governed by the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is the code department of the Illinois state government that operates the state parks and state recreation areas, enforces the fishing and game laws of Illinois, regulates Illinois coal mines, ...

. The house 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 ...

and designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1970, and it was named one of the

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the new

French Colonial Historic District The French Colonial Historic District is a historic district that encompasses a major region of 18th-century French colonization of the Americas, French colonization in southwestern Illinois. The district is anchored by Fort de Chartres and Fort ...

in 1974, along with other area French-influenced sites such as

Fort de Chartres Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. It was used as the administrative center for the province, which was part of New France. Due generally to river floo ...

, the

Creole House The Creole House is a historic residence in the village of Prairie du Rocher, an old French settlement in present-day Randolph County, Illinois, United States. Built at the end of the eighteenth century and later expanded, the Creole House is ...

, the

Kolmer Site The Kolmer Site is an archaeological site in the far southwest of the U.S. state of Illinois. Located near Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher in western Randolph County, it lies at the site of an early historic Indian village from the French per ...

(a former Indian village), and the site of Fort Kaskaskia.

Interior

The two-story home features early 19th-century period furnishings. The rooms on the main floor include the entry hall,

parlor A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

, master bedroom, dining room, two additional bedrooms, maid's room and a nursery. Behind the home is a period stone kitchen. The grounds include a

privy Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to: * Privy council, a body that advises the head of state * Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin * Privy Pur ...

, a reconstructed

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...

and

springhouse A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing stru ...

, and a historic herb and vegetable garden.

Grounds and History of Slaves

The house and museum doesn't describe or mention the history of slaves on this plantation. In 1999, Christopher Stratton and William Flesher conducted a
archaeological investigation
to recreate where the slave quarters existed. The total number of slaves swelled from 7 in 1810 to 22 in 1830. They remained slaves on the property until Illinois abolished slavery in 1848. Pierre Menard was one of only three people with a statue on the grounds of the Illinois state capitol in Springfield. August 19, 2020, the Speaker of the House and office of architectur
removed this Menard's statue
from the grounds because it led to “Memorializing people and a time that allowed slavery and fostered bigotry and oppression has no place in the Illinois House, where the work of all Illinoisans is conducted,” according to Speaker Michael Madigan.

Gallery

Pierre Menard House, Garden.JPG, Garden Pierre Menard House, front.JPG, Front Pierre Menard House, sitting room.JPG, Sitting Room

References

External links

Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menard, Pierre, House National Historic Landmarks in Illinois Illinois State Historic Sites Historic house museums in Illinois Museums in Randolph County, Illinois Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Randolph County, Illinois French colonial architecture French Houses in Randolph County, Illinois