muledriver
The Halfway House,Ottawa,IL
Built in 1852 by Joel Smith as a Tavern (Inn) on the stagecoach route between Chicago and St. Louis,Mo., it acquired the name since it was roughly halfway between the 2 cities. Also known as the Sulphur Springs Hotel,due to there being three springs located behind the building. Abraham Lincoln stayed here,and possibly Edward,the Prince of Wales, while on a hunting trip in the U.S. in 1860. In 1862,the building was sold, and was converted to a farmhouse. In 1902, Henry Zimmerman bought the property,and it was while he was tilling the land that Indian artifacts were found. Subsequent digging and excavating revealed that this was the site of the village known as Kaskaskia, home to around 20,000 Illinois Indians at it's peak. It was here that Father Marquette set up a mission in 1674, only to die a year later from illness contracted during the winter of 1674 (spent in a hastily built hut at what was to become Chicago). In 1700,the village was abandoned by the natives, and a new village of Kaskaskia (still a city today) was formed along the Mississippi River.
The Halfway House,Ottawa,IL
Built in 1852 by Joel Smith as a Tavern (Inn) on the stagecoach route between Chicago and St. Louis,Mo., it acquired the name since it was roughly halfway between the 2 cities. Also known as the Sulphur Springs Hotel,due to there being three springs located behind the building. Abraham Lincoln stayed here,and possibly Edward,the Prince of Wales, while on a hunting trip in the U.S. in 1860. In 1862,the building was sold, and was converted to a farmhouse. In 1902, Henry Zimmerman bought the property,and it was while he was tilling the land that Indian artifacts were found. Subsequent digging and excavating revealed that this was the site of the village known as Kaskaskia, home to around 20,000 Illinois Indians at it's peak. It was here that Father Marquette set up a mission in 1674, only to die a year later from illness contracted during the winter of 1674 (spent in a hastily built hut at what was to become Chicago). In 1700,the village was abandoned by the natives, and a new village of Kaskaskia (still a city today) was formed along the Mississippi River.