Built 1846 Opened 1846 Added to NRHP 29 October 1974 | NRHP Reference # 74002195 Area 2,800 m² | |
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Location Geneva Rd. and Main St., Glen Ellyn, Illinois Architectural style Greek Revival architecture Similar Museums at Lisle Station P, Lake Ellyn Park, Sheldon Peck Homestead, Village Links of Glen Ellyn, Glen Oak Country Club | ||
Stacy's Tavern is a historic wayside stagecoach inn on the National Register of Historic Places located in DuPage County, Illinois in the village of Glen Ellyn. It was added to the register on October 29, 1974.
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History
Among the settlers flooding northern Illinois following the Black Hawk War in 1832 was Moses Stacy and his family. Stacy often opened his home as a boarding house for passing travelers so when he constructed his new home in 1846 he opened it as a wayside inn. Stage coach travelers moving between Chicago and Galena, area farmers heading to market in the Windy City and settlers moving westward further still all made use of Stacy's Tavern.
For 50 cents guests could overnight, a night which included two meals and enough hay for two horses. At the inn they could wash with water from the indoor tavern well or warm themselves near the cast-iron stove. Stacy's was limited by law to allowing only five travelers per bed. The home was built in a modified Greek revival style and the boards were milled at a nearby sawmill, Gary's Mill and the bricks were handmade.
It was the railroad that hailed the death knell of Stacy Tavern as a wayside inn. Even after the arrival of the railroad Stacy and his wife continued to use the house as their residence until Moses died in 1870 and his wife in 1899. They are buried in nearby Forest Hill Cemetery.
Restoration
The Village of Glen Ellyn purchased the property in 1968 and along with the Glen Ellyn Historical Society restored it to the state of a typical tavern/inn of the late 1840s. Restorers studied old photos, removed numerous paint layers and analyzed architectural elements to detail the original construction of the tavern. Artifacts furnishing the tavern were collected by the Society from across the United States, the chairs in the Tap Room were made by an Illinois carpenter in the 1840s.
The same year it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, 1974, it was honored by the State of Illinois as the only tavern from its period still standing on its original foundation at its original location. In 1976 Glen Ellyn opened Stacy's Tavern to the public as a museum as part of the town's contribution to the American bicentennial.