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 territori ...
, 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 state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
from 1818 to 1822.
History
Pierre Menard was born near
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, 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' 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 ...
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 necess ...
, 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. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more. 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 str ...
, 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 investigationto 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 statuefrom 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