Sauganash Hotel

Sauganash Hotel (originally Eagle Exchange Tavern) is a former hotel; regarded as the first hotel in Chicago, Illinois. It was located at Wolf Point in the present day Loop community area at the intersection of the north, south and main branches of the Chicago River. The location at West Lake Street and North Wacker Drive (formerly Market Street) was designated a Chicago Landmark on November 6, 2002. The hotel changed proprietors often in its twenty-year existence and briefly served as Chicago's first theater. It was named after Sauganash, an interpreter in the British Indian Department.

Mark and Monique Beaubien, the owners and builders of the hotel, were French Indian traders. In 1826 they moved to Chicago on the advice of Mark's brother Jean, who lived at Fort Dearborn. The Beaubiens settled in a small cabin on Wolf's Point and continued their trade with the Indians. They built a tavern on the east bank of the south branch of the Chicago River at the point where the north and south branches meet. The tavern was named Eagle Exchange Tavern. In 1831, they added a frame to the log structure to create Chicago's first hotel, the Sauganash Hotel. When completed, it was one of only two residential structures on the south side of the main branch of the Chicago River, the other being that of Col. John B. Beaubien, Mark's brother. The settlement had only twelve houses at the time. The hostelry immediately became famous, and when reconstructed later became the city's largest and finest hotel. Immediately adjacent to the hotel's public bar was Chicago's first drug store.

The Greek Revival trim of the new hotel contrasted with the other eleven buildings of Chicago. The symmetry of its facade was typical to contemporary Greek Revival practiced on the East Coast. Juliette Kinzie, who came to Chicago from Connecticut in 1831, described it as "a pretentios white two-story building, with bright blue wood shutters, the admiration of all the little circle at Wolf Point". The hostelry's clientele transcended race, with natives and settlers enjoying each other's company.

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