Beaubien Tavern
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Beaubien Tavern Self-Guided Tour Beaubien Tavern This self-guided tour is designed to give you a more detailed look at the displays here in this part of the museum. You’ll notice that the page numbers in this pamphlet match the numbers on signs posted throughout the museum. As you take a look at the objects in our collection, also take a moment to read and learn even more about Lisle’s past. Want to know what we have going on? Find us online! www.lisleparkdistrict.org/museumsatlislestationpark MuseumsatLisleStationPark @LisleMuseum FREE ADMISSION Suggested Donation $5 Transportation in the 19th Century The 1800s saw rapid changes in how people traveled from place to place. As European settlers moved west, they developed more and more ways to make long- distance travel easier. Dirt or gravel roads took you from place to place on land by walking, horse cart, or stagecoach. Canals used exist- ing rivers and man-made waterways to carry people and materials by boat over water. While they made travel easi- er, they could only be used when they weren’t frozen. They were also time and labor-intensive to build. 1 Plank Roads, made from wooden planks like the piece below, were used by people traveling to do business and to move agricultural products to cities like Chicago. These began spreading all over the United States during the 1840s. They were a low-cost, more comfortable, modern alternative to canals and dirt trails. This type of road took a lot of time to build and had to be fixed all the time by the local people. Railroad technology had just started being built in this region, which was a much faster way to travel, and they their own workers too. Now that the railroads were built, farmers preferred using them instead of hauling their carts onto canals or over plank roads. The Beaubiens in Chicago In 1804, Jean Baptiste Beaubien first arrived at Fort Dearborn. He didn’t stay long, but he returned several years later after the Fort Dearborn Massacre. He was one of the city’s earliest European residents, and he even participated in the vote to es- tablish the city of Chicago in 1833. He served as the captain of the militia at Fort Dearborn during the Blackhawk War. In 1826, Mark Beaubien, his wife Monique and their children joined Mark’s brother Jean Baptiste in Chicago and established a tavern and inn. This business would later grow into the Sau- ganash Hotel, the same place mentioned above where the vote to establish Chicago took place. The Beaubiens were also instrumental in helping to form the first Catholic church in Chicago, today’s Old St. Mary’s Catholic Mark ran several other businesses in Church. Chicago, including a coffee house and a ferry boat to take people across the Chicago River. In 1841, Mark traded a tavern that he owned in Chicago for this tavern in Lisle. 2 The Beaubiens in Lisle This building sat along a stagecoach trail, which was orig- inally used by the indigenous people who lived here, and later turned into the Plank Road by Europeans a few years later. Mark and his family first lived in the Tavern, but soon built a separate house for themselves. Mark and his first wife, Monique, were married in 1817 and had 16 children together. Monique passed away in 1847 and was buried next to the tavern, in what is known now as the Beaubien Cemetery. Mark remarried in the follow year to a woman named Elizabeth Mathieu. Mark and his wives had 23 children, most of whom survived to adulthood. Mark’s brother, Jean Baptiste, joined him in Lisle during the 1850s. He eventually settled in Naperville, where he passed away in 1865 and was buried in the Beaubien Cemetery. Mark left Lisle in the 1860s to settle in Kanka- kee and passed away there in 1881. 3 Tavern Life in the 19th Century Many of the visitors to taverns along the Plank Road were farmers carrying agricultural products to market in Chicago. Mark and his family would have depended upon their visits paying for food, drink, and tolls to use the Plank Road. While you could purchase alcohol in a tavern like this, it was mostly a place to meet socially with other people and even conduct business. Mark would often entertain guests on his violin, which is now held in the collections at the Chicago Historical Society. Taverns in the 1800s in this part of the country included European immigrants as well as some of the local indigenous people who already were living here. 4 Zhaabne (also known as Shabonna) was a Native American leader who worked tirelessly to broker peace between European settlers and indigenous people. He regularly traveled across northern Illi- nois, especially during the Blackhawk War, and sometimes stopped at Mark Beaubien’s tavern while traveling. He had initially fought against European and American immigrants trying to settle on his peo- ple’s land. After witnessing the death of the Native American leader Tecumseh during the War of 1812, he instead started encouraging Native Americans and Europeans throughout this region to negotiate for living together in peace without any more fighting. The Beaubiens and the Southwest Plank Road Mark was a businessman who invested in the Southwest Plank Road. He only agreed to help fund the Plank Road’s construction if a tollhouse was placed outside his tavern. He also made sure that a junction south towards Naper- ville was placed just past his tollgate. This would mean that he would receive tolls from all travelers going west to do business in Naperville and other towns that were ex- porting important materials for the new Europeans. Mark and his son, Mark Jr, operated the tavern as an inn and tollhouse for several years after the completion of the Southwest Plank Road in 1851. The Plank Road’s planks began falling apart a few years after it was built, since the wood planks were becoming worn down, and toll collectors like Mark could not keep up with repairs. People started using other transporta- tion routes instead. The lower traffic along the Southwest Plank Road meant that Mark was unable to pay taxes on his property. He was forced to sell the tavern in 1859. 5 The Beaubien Family Cemetery Soon after arriving in Lisle, the Beaubiens set aside a portion of their property for use as a cemetery. Mark is not buried there but much of his family. The cemetery is marked by one large headstone at 2900 Ogden Avenue. In addition to Beaubien family members, Mathias Schmidt is buried here too. He was an early Chicago resident who also helped create Old St. Mary’s Church. He served in the militia at Fort Dearborn during the Blackhawk War, and is rumored to have served with Napoleon in the early 1800s in Europe before immigrating to the United States. He and Mark were friends, and they likely met during the for- mation of Old St Mary’s. 6 The Beaubien Family Cemetery (cont’d) The last burial in the cemetery was Emily Le Beau, Mark’s granddaughter, in 1919. Joy Morton, creator of the Morton Salt Company and The Morton Arboretum, attended the funeral and noted that the cemetery was not being cared for. He wrote a letter to the Chicago Historical Society, asking them to fund a fence around the plot. This plea to help protect the cemetery was the first of many steps to preserve Lisle’s history and heritage. 6 Our mission is to preserve and interpret the dynamic history of Lisle that inspires and involves the community through research, programs, and exhibits. The museum campus was created in 1978 to provide a home for the community’s historic train depot. Over the decades, volunteers and staff have collected artifacts, restored historic structures moved to the site, and shared research with visitors through educational programs and exhibits. A cooperative effort of: Lisle Park District Village of Lisle Lisle Heritage Society September 1-May 31 June 1-August 31 Guided tours: Guided tours: Tuesdays and Saturdays Tuesdays and Saturdays 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm Thursdays Closed December 23rd 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm through January 31 for routine maintenance. Self-guided tours available during all hours. .