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Tremont House (Chicago)

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Coordinates: 41°53′08″N 87°37′45″W / 41.88556°N 87.62917°W / 41.88556; -87.62917
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This article is about the hotel in Chicago. For other uses, see Tremont House (disambiguation).

The Tremont House was a hotel located in Chicago, Illinois. A modern hotel also bears the same name.

Original

First hotel

The original hotel was built in 1833. It was a three-story wooden structure located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Lake and Dearborn streets. It was lost to a fire in 1839.[1] It took its name from the Boston Tremont House.[2] It was established by brothers Ira Couch and James Couch.[3][4] It was later recounted by a reporter that he recalled the hotel having been a three-story frame structure aproximatley 80 ft (24 m) long and 70 ft (21 m) wide.[5]

Second hotel

The second hotel was built after the loss of the first,[1] breaking ground in December 1839 and opening in May 1840. The structure was a three-story frame structure located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Lake and Dearborn streets.[1] It had 93 ft (28 m) of frontage on Dearborn street and 100 ft (30 m) of frontage along Lake Street It was lost to a fire on July 21, 1841. By the time that the second building burnt down, the brothers had purchased the land on which the hotel stood, owning 180 ft (55 m) feet of frontage of the block along Dearborn Street and 140 ft (43 m) of frontage on the block along Lake Street.[4]

Third hotel

1850–1871 hotel

After the loss of the second building, a third hotel building was constructed on the same site. It was a five and one-half floor block masonry brick structure with 260 rooms, and was designed by John M. Van Osdel.[1][6][2][4] The new hotel covered the entirety of the land that the Couch brothers had acquired before the loss of previous building.[4] It was equipped with the finest amenities of the day, costing $75,000 to construct.[2] Before its opening, the new large building was ridiculed as "Couch's Folly" by those that expected it to fail.[3][4] The third hotel opened its doors on September 29, 1850.[4] For a time, it was considered the leading hotel in the western United States.[1][3]

In 1853, three years after the third incarnation of the hotel opened, the building was leased and the furniture was sold to David Allen Gage and George W. Gage.[4][7] In 1855, John Drake joined the Gages, acquiring a quarter interest in the hotel's operation.[8] In 1961, he became the sole owner of its operation, and would remain so until 1872.[9][5]

The building was among the largest to be physically raised when Chicago heighted the grade of its streets in the 1850s and 1860s.[1] In 1861, Ely, Smith and Pullman lifted the Tremont House six feet in the air[10] (George Pullman made his reputation as a building raiser before becoming famous for manufacturing sleeping cars).[11] The building was one of many buildings in Chicago raised to match the upward shifting street grade during the mid nineteenth century.

During the 1858 United States senatorial race in Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, who regularly stayed at the hotel while in Chicago, delivered a July 9, 1858 speech that included a rebuke to Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech. Lincoln, who was in Chicago to attend an opening session of United States District Court, appeared at the hotel that night to deliver a rebuttal.[1] This, in a sense, was the start of each individual's campaigns for senate.[6]

The hotel served as the headquarters for the Illinois Republican Party during the 1860 Republican National Convention (held at the nearby Wigwam) as they lobbied for Abraham Lincoln's nomination.[2][12]

Stephen A. Douglas died at the hotel on June 3, 1861.[1][13]

In 1865, Mary Lincoln stayed at the hotel for one week following the assassination of her husband. Robert Lincoln and Tad Lincoln stayed with her during that time.[14]

The hotel burned to the ground during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.[15][4] At the time it was lost to fire, among the a notable resident of the hotel was former Chicago mayor and former U.S. congressman John Wentworth.[5]

Interim post-fire hotel operation

During the interim period following the fire, the hotel operated as the "New Tremont House" out of a structure that John Drake had bought at Michigan Avenue and Congress.[15] Drake bought this temporary Hotel as a successful bet that it would escape the fire as the fire was raging across the city.[15]

Fourth hotel

(1873-1937)
(1913-04-24)

The fourth hotel was designed by John M. Van Osdel, who had designed the previous third hotel. It opened its doors in 1873. It stood six floors.[1] It was constructed James Couch and the estate of his brother Ira Couch, who had himself passed away in 1857.[3][4] The rebuilt hotel remained along with the Palmer House, Grand Pacific Hotel and the Sherman House as a leading hotel after the Great Chicago Fire.[2] It was built in the commercial palazzo architecture style of the day and claimed to be fireproof.[2] By this time, it was the oldest hotel operation in the city. James Couch and his son Ira Couch (not to be confused with his late brother of the same name) were the proprietors of the new fourth incarnation of the hotel at its opening.[5]

The building stood until 1937, but the hotel had closed earlier.[1] In 1902, the building was purchased by Northwestern University, and housed its law, dental, and business schools.[1]

Modern hotel

The Tremont Chicago Hotel is at 100 East Chestnut Street, between Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile and Rush Street. The hotel housed the Chicago location of Mike Ditka's restaurant, which closed in 2020.[16] This block of Chestnut is also known as Mike Ditka Way.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Tremont House". The Great Chicago Fire & The Web of Memory. Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Berger, Molly (2005). "Hotels". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d "TREMONT HOUSE". WTTW Chicago. December 1, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "James Couch Killed". Chicago Tribune. February 11, 1892. p. 1. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "Old and New". Newspapers.com. Chicago Tribune. February 2, 1874. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Host, William R. and Brooke Ahne Portmann, "Early Chicago Hotels," Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 11., ISBN 0-7385-4041-2.
  7. ^ Bannos, Pamela (2021). "Hidden Truths: Pamela Bannos". hiddentruths.northwestern.edu. Northwestern University. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BRC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Utter, William T. (2007). "John Burroughs Drake". Biography Resource Center. Retrieved April 24, 2007.
  10. ^ "The Tremont House Improvement". Chicago Daily Tribune. January 22, 1861. Archived from the original on May 7, 2013.
  11. ^ Leyendecker, Liston E. (2005). "George Pullman and His Town". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
  12. ^ Karamanski, Theodore J. (2005). "Wigwam". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
  13. ^ DN-0060398, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society.
  14. ^ Emerson, Jason (2007). The Madness of Mary Lincoln. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 20–22. ISBN 978-08093-2771-3.
  15. ^ a b c Host, William R. and Brooke Ahne Portmann, "Early Chicago Hotels," Arcadia Publishing, 2006, p. 29., ISBN 0-7385-4041-2.
  16. ^ Sneed, Michael (May 19, 2020). "Ditka on his iconic Ditka's eatery closing: 'It's over and it was good'". Chicago Sun-Times.
  17. ^ Sager, Mike (October 1, 1999). "Is Ditka Nuts?". Esquire.
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