Old West Hotel: Carriage House 4-12-1993
The Carriage House was located behind the Hotel.
Old West Hotel: "Celebrate Your Heritage Day", May 11, 1991
Historic Commercial Community Members Civic Event
The Old Hotel was built in 1879 after Uncle Tom's Cabin burned down. On May 11, 1989, Sugar Grove held an event at the Old Hotel, which was 112 years old at the time: "Celebrate Your Heritage". The Old Hotel was located on the northwest corner of Cross Street and the Railroad tracks. Bill Johnson and Minnie Yearton were honored guests. Click on the first image to open a PDF with a compilation of photos.
Printed on the front:HOTEL WEST SUGAR GROVE ILL Stamped on the back: W. W. VAN OSDEL. PHOTOGRAPHER AURORA, ILL The ornate building that served as the boarding house for student scholars called Uncle Tom's Cabin was destroyed by fire in 1879, only 3 years after it was built. It was a great loss as Thomas Judd "Uncle Tom" had no insurance. However, he then built a new hotel on the same site. Since there was no insurance on the original boarding house, the community came together with labor and materials, and rebuilt it using the stacked lumber method for the outside walls. The hotel was later purchased by W.M. West and came to be known as Hotel West. During the first half of the 1900s, Kitty Lorah owned the building. Sundays found automobiles with license plates from as far away as Wisconsin and Iowa parked in front of the hotel where Kitty served family style meals, all of which were cooked on two gigantic cast iron cook stoves in the basement kitchen. Her dining room was filled with families on Sundays and railroad personnel at noon during the week. Kitty continued to operate her restaurant and manage the apartments in the hotel, well into her later years. She could be found seated outside early on summer mornings, shelling a bushel of peas or stinging a like amount of beans, which were headed for her huge kettles and the dinner plates of diners. After many years of housing students, guests, and residents, the Old Hotel West was razed in 1999. It became the site of Veterans Park on the west side of Main Street just north of the railroad tracks. Source: "Sin-Qua-Sip: A History of Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois" by Patsy Mighell Paxton.
Hotel West / West's Hotel / Old Hotel / Sugar Grove Hotel / Uncle Tom's Cabin Rebuilt
After the first Uncle Tom's Cabin burned down in 1879, new residential housing, West's Hotel, was built in 1880 on the same site at the northwest corner of Main St. and the Railroad Tracks.
Handwritten on the top: Uncle Tom's Cabin Rebuilt 1880 The ornate building that served as a boarding house for student scholars called Uncle Tom's Cabin burned downed in 1879, only 3 years after it was built. It was a great loss as Thomas Judd “Uncle Tom” had no insurance. However, he then built a new hotel on the same site. Since there was no insurance on the original boarding house, the community came together with labor and materials, and rebuilt it using the stacked lumber method for the outside walls. The hotel was later purchased by W.M. West and came to be known as Hotel West. During the first half of the 1900s, Kitty Lorah owned the building. Sundays found automobiles with license plates from as far away as Wisconsin and Iowa parked in front of the hotel where Kitty served family style meals, all of which were cooked on two gigantic cast iron cook stoves in the basement kitchen. Her dining room was filled with families on Sundays and railroad personnel at noon during the week. Kitty continued to operate her restaurant and manage the apartments in the hotel, well into her later years. She could be found seated outside early on summer mornings, shelling a bushel of peas or stinging a like amount of beans, which were headed for her huge kettles and the dinner plates of diners. After many years of housing students, guests, and residents, the Old Hotel West was torn down in 1999. It became the site of Veterans Park on the west side of Main Street just north of the railroad tracks. Source: "Sin-Qua-Sip: A History of Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois" by Patsy Mighell Paxton.
Old Hotel - North sitting room downstairs - Hand dated April 1984
Handwritten on the back: 4/84 Hotel North Sitting Room Down Stairs
Old Hotel - Southeast corner downstairs - Hand dated April 1984
Handwritten on the back: 4/84 S E CORNER of Building Downstairs
Old Hotel - Underside of wallpaper - Hand dated April 1984
Handwritten on the back: 4/84 Hotel UNDER SIDE of wallpaper Frank McGuire was a student in 18
Old Hotel - Hand dated September 28, 1987
Old Hotel - Hand dated November 20, 1990
Water & Utility Sheds of the Old Hotel - Hand dated 1936 - 1938
Old Hotel with people around it - Hand dated March 1989
Sticker on the front: Fall 1988 Handwritten on the back: 3-89 Handwritten names on the back: Sue & Barb
Handwritten on the back: 10-3-1992 Old Hotel
Stamped on the top: Karen Kerckhove, April 4, 1989
Old Hotel - Print dated November 28, 1993