The Mermaid House Inn was built in 1830, a former sea captain who'd come to settle down in Illinois. &nbsp;Being a sea captain, he gave it a nautical name, hence the Mermaid House. &nbsp;Twelve years later, a young Charles Dickens, who'd already made himself a household name&nbsp;back in England for such&nbsp;novels as&nbsp;Oliver Twist&nbsp;and&nbsp;David Copperfield, crossed the Atlantic in order to tour America and advocate international copyright laws. &nbsp;For the most part, Dickens hated his trip. &nbsp;He despised the squalor of New York slums, claiming it was filthier than any slum in London, was horrified by the slave auctions in Richmond, and detested the heat and humidity of the lower Midwest. &nbsp;One of the only things he enjoyed was the Mermaid House Inn. &nbsp;While visiting in St. Louis, which he, of course, thought was too hot, he decided that he wanted&nbsp;to see an American prairie. &nbsp;He and thirteen other men set out on a short excursion through the&nbsp;Looking Glass Prairie, near Lebanon, and stopped at the Mermaid House. &nbsp;He loved it, saying that, "In point of cleanliness and comfort it would have suffered by no comparison with any village alehouse, of a homely kind, in England." The inn's legacy has lent a sort of Dickensian vibe to the town of Lebanon. &nbsp;A nearby store is named Fezziwig's Marketplace, after one of the&nbsp;most beloved characters from Dicken's story&nbsp;A Christmas Carol, and the town hosts a Victorian era styled Christmas festival every November. &nbsp;In fact, since Dickens wrote&nbsp;A Christmas Carol&nbsp;a year after his visit,&nbsp;some people think that the inn was Dickens' inspiration for the classic story.&nbsp; Literary fan will enjoy visiting this historic inn so that they can walk in the footsteps of such a revered author.

More Info

This small two-story in Lebanon seems rather unassuming, but it has a surprising history.  The little building was once an inn for people traveling westward through the Looking Glass Prairie.  Many people came to the inn, but its most famous visitor was Charles Dickens, one of the most popular British novelists of the 19th century and a man whose words came to define the era he lived in.  The inn no longer operates as a hotel, but it is available for tours, and it stands as a spot of historic pride for the town.

The Mermaid House Inn

Begin on Belleville Street on the west side of Lebanon in one of the finest residential districts from the mid-19th century and drive to other historical landmarks at McKendree College and downtown Lebanon, ending at the oldest building in town, an inn from 1830, two years after the founding of the college as Lebanon Seminary.

David Chamberlin was an itinerant Methodist preacher before settling in Lebanon. He married Sarah, an Ohio native and daughter of Nicholas Horner, who settled in 1817 a mile and a half north of Lebanon. David and Sarah's son, John McLean Chamberlin, was born in 1837; his brother, McKendree Hypes, followed one year later. John M. graduated from McKendree College in 1860 with an A.B. degree and later earned an A.M. degree; his father had been one of the original subscribers to the college's precursor, Lebanon Seminary, founded in 1828. McKendree graduated with an A.B. degree from McKendree in 1859. McKendree went on to become a lawyer with a degree from Harvard Law School. David Chamberlin and his young family actually lived in the original building at McKendree College in the late 1830s when David was in charge of the boarding department.David Chamberlin died by 1860 and his widow Susan (age 56) turned the home into a boarding house. Both sons, in their early twenties and students, also shared the home, as well as two family servants: Margaret Casey (17) and Susana Heiser (18). There were four boarders: the McKendree College president, Nelson E. Lobleight (45), his wife Charlotte (34), and children Nelson (15) and Edward (9). The Chamberlin property was a huge tract on the outskirts of town (see the 1863 map image).Both Chamberlin brothers married in 1869: John M. to Maggie E. Royce and McKendree to Helen L. Dana. John M. became a partner on a local mercantile firm; he also was a Sunday School Superintendent of the local Methodist Church and a trustee of the college for over fifty years. John M. also became head of the local board of education and served on the City Council. McKendree practiced law in Kansas City and later in Beardstown, Illinois.John M. (43, a merchant) was the head of the Chamberlin household by 1880, likely in the Belleville St. house. He shared the house with his wife Maggie (33); four sons aged one to nine; his widowed mother Susan (76); and a domestic servant named Bertha Blattruth (19). By that time, the house was incorporated within the city of Lebanon. John M. died in Lebanon at a son's home in 1919.In the 1890s, McKendree College was heavily in debt and the note holder was threatening to foreclose. McKendree Chamberlin was offered the presidency of the college in 1894, and he initially refused, but relented a few days later. Perhaps being born at the college and being named after the bishop who was the college's namesake influenced his change of heart. McKendree served for fourteen years and was instrumental in not only getting the college out of debt but creating an endowment fund. When he retired, the college bought him a house in Lebanon where he had been living for a while; this was the Herbert Morriss House, owned by Dr. Benjamin M Hypes. McKendree served as President Emeritus and earned a salary. Several years later, he moved to California where he passed away in 1914.The main block of the David Chamberlin House is 5 bays wide with a central entryway below a second-floor balcony. When the house was documented in the late 1970s, the front entrance was accessed through a pedimented porch with square columns below two small windows on the second floor. The side gable roof of the main block has internal chimneys on both ends. There are two rear wings. The house last sold in 2001 and remains a private residence.

The historic house at 918 Belleville St. was the home of one of the most prominent families in Lebanon, the Chamberlins. David Chamberlin was a Methodist preacher and one of the original subscribers to the fund that established Lebanon Seminary in 1828 (McKendree College as of 1830). He later served as the head of McKendree's boarding department. One of David's sons, McKendree Hypes Chamberlin, served as president of the college for fourteen years. Another son, John McLean Chamberlin, was treasurer of the college, a member of the city council, and head of the board of education. Also known as the Hoerner House, the home was built in 1855 and is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District, listed in 1978.

David Chamberlin House

Benjamin Hypes' grandfather Nicholas Hypes emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1760. Nicholas settled on a farm near Winchester Virginia after living in Philadelphia; he had been educated as a Lutheran minister. Benjamin's father Henry H. Hypes was born in Virginia and moved with his wife and children - including Benjamin, who was born in 1805 - to Xenia, Ohio in 1811. Benjamin was a member of the first class of the Lebanon Seminary in 1828. The Seminary became McKendree College, affiliated with the Methodist Church, in 1830. Benjamin served as a trustee of McKendree College for sixty-one years and as its treasurer for thirty-seven. In 1834, Benjamin married a woman from Baltimore named Caroline Murray; her father Daniel was an early settler of Belleville, Illinois. One of Benjamin's first businesses in Lebanon was an oxen-powered grist mill. One of Benjamin's sisters, Nancy, was married to Lebanon businessman Nathan Horner. In 1831, Benjamin and Horner became partners in a mercantile business; this arrangement lasted until 1840. The business had a third partner, H.K. Ashley, in the mid-1830s. In the early 1840s, Benjamin was a farmer before opening up his own store in Lebanon. Benjamin was one of two men on the publishing committee of a Methodist newspaper, The Illinois Advocate, published in Lebanon from 1848 to 1852. In 1863, Benjamin was appointed postmaster of Lebanon by President Lincoln.Benjamin and Caroline had six children: Cornelia, Adelaide, William Henry, Mary, Benjamin M., and Caroline ("Carrie"). All six children (age 20 to 30) were still single and lived at home with their parents in 1870. By 1870, Benjamin (66) was a retired former merchant; Caroline and the children did not have jobs. By 1880, three of the children had moved out of their father's house, and two of the remaining children lived in the house with their own families. In 1880, Benjamin was a retired merchant (75); Caroline (65) kept house and single daughter Cornelia (44) did not work. William Henry (40) was an Internal Revenue collector, and was married (Emma, 35) with a child (Anna, 1). Youngest daughter Carrie married Reverend William Fletcher Swahlen, a McKendree College professor of Greek and German, in 1873. Carrie (30) and her husband (40) also lived in her father's house, with sons Percival (3) and Arthur (1). A boarder, Eliza Muny (68) and two domestic servants - Fredricka Schroeder (20) and Solomon Rolly (20) - completed the list of occupants.Both Benjamin and Caroline lived into their nineties and are buried in College Hill Cemetery in Lebanon. When Benjamin died in Lebanon in 1896, Caroline went to live with her youngest son in St. Louis. The youngest son, Benjamin Murray Hypes, was born in Lebanon in 1846 and graduated from McKendree in 1866. Benjamin M. became a doctor and professor and worked in Missouri and other towns in Illinois. Dr. Hypes was one of the founders of Marion-Sims Medical College in St. Louis; he never married and had a second home at 1615 Grand Avenue in Lebanon. Dr. Hypes donated land to McKendree, where he also served as a trustee; the property became "Hypes Athletic Field." When he died in 1924, Dr. Hypes' funeral was held in St. Louis, but he was buried with his parents in Lebanon.The oldest son, William Henry (1839-1887), became a businessman in Lebanon. In 1881, William Henry worked as an insurance agent. He married Emeline Allyn, the daughter of a former president of McKendree, his alma mater (Class of 1860). William Henry lived his whole life in Lebanon.The Benjamin Hypes House is still a private residence. The two-story, brick structure with a covered front porch contains 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Renovations have kept the home's Victorian feel with high ceilings, hardwood interiors, and antique style light fixtures. The next-door neighbor, the Governor French House, also is a Clio entry.

The house at 904 Belleville St. was built around 1865 for Benjamin Hypes, the postmaster of Lebanon who was appointed by President Lincoln. Hypes had been one of Lebanon's leading merchants for decades and served as treasurer of McKendree College from the 1830s to the 1870s. The Belleville St. house held Benjamin, his wife, and all six children in 1870. By 1880, three of the children had moved out but two of the remaining added spouses and children. In 1896, Benjamin Hypes died in Lebanon and his widow, Caroline, moved to St. Louis to live in one of the homes of her youngest son, a physician. The Benjamin Hypes House is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District.

Benjamin Hypes House

Augustus C. French was born in Hill, New Hampshire in 1808. He studied at Dartmouth College but did not graduate. He was orphaned at age nineteen and helped to raise his four younger brothers. French studied law in New Hampshire and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He moved to Paris, Illinois in 1832. French served as a member of the Illinois Legislature from 1836 to 1838 and 1838 to 1840. In 1839, French became head of the U.S. Land Office in Palestine, Illinois. French was a Democrat and was elected Governor of Illinois in 1846. He was the first governor in the state to be elected to two terms and served from December 1846 to January 1853. The house was likely built in 1854 when French retired from politics. The three-bay-wide, red brick house has a projecting central bay containing the main entrance.In 1860, the French household was listed in the federal census in St. Clair County, Illinois in Township 2 North, Range 6 West, on the outskirts of the town limits of Lebanon. French (age 52) was a lawyer who owned $55,000 in real estate and $3,000 in personal property. He shared his home on Belleville St. with wife Lucy (43); and five children: William (15), Edward (14), Augusta (11), Lucy (8), and Charles (1). Lucy (Southworth) was born in New York and the children were natives of Illinois. Also living in the house were servant(s) Elizabeth Robins (21) and Mary Smith (17). Governor French founded and headed the Law Department at McKendree College in Lebanon until his death. His three sons studied at McKendree, and the two daughters were educated at Monticello Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois. Edward began his studies at age 11 in the Preparatory Department of McKendree in 1857.Sadly, the oldest son William died at age 20 in August 1864, not long after finishing his studies at McKendree. Former Governor French died one month later, in September 1864, at age 56. His gravestone in the family plot at College Hill Cemetery in Lebanon is inscribed: "A man, true, kind and noble; a citizen, just, generous, and honorable; a public officer, upright, philanthropic, energetic, and faithful; a husband and father, affectionate, wise, and good; a Christian, humble, charitable, and trusting."The second son, Edward, left McKendree and served as a Lieutenant in the Civil War before resuming his studies and graduating in 1866. Edward studied law in Springfield, Illinois in 1867 and then at the University of Michigan, where he received an LL. B. degree in 1869. He practiced law in Lebanon for one year in 1869 and one year in Olney, Illinois. In 1870, Edward married Mary Wells of St. Louis, and then became a professor at Wells College in Aurora, New York. In the 1880s, he moved to California and taught school; he died in the 1920s. The youngest child, Charles, studied at a theological seminary in the eastern U.S. after McKendree and was later an Episcopal Minister in New York. The elder daughter, Augusta, married a man from Chicago named C.H. Wicker. The other daughter married Dr. John L. Hodgeman of Colorado and later moved to Texas.None of the French family members were found in the 1870 census within the Lebanon area so they may have sold the house by then. The home was described in the 1920s as one of the finest houses on Belleville Street. The Governor French House was vacant and owned by the Schaefer family in 1971 when the ten-room house was documented for the Illinois Historic Sites Survey.

The house at 820 Belleville St. is thought to have been built in 1854 as the home of former Illinois Governor Augustus Chaplin French. French was elected governor twice, in 1846 and for a four-year term in 1848. When he lived in Lebanon after his terms ended, he founded and headed the Law Department at McKendree College. The former governor, age 56, and his eldest son William, age 20, died within a month of each other in 1864. The French family - widow Lucy and the four remaining children - appear to have moved away by 1870. The Governor French House is part of the Lebanon Historic District, listed in the National Register in 1977. The house is next door to another Clio entry, the Benjamin Hayes House.

Governor Augustus C. French House

Twenty women were admitted to McKendree College in the fall of 1869, the first year that women were allowed to attend. The college lacked dormitories and many students lived in nearby boarding houses. The Clark brothers of Philadelphia donated $10,000 to McKendree College. When the new dormitory for women was built at McKendree in 1910, it was named after the Clarks. Clark Hall was the fifth brick building added to the campus, joining Old Main (1850), the Chapel (1857), Athleteon (1868 - later Science, now Wildy Hall). and Eisenmayer Auditorium (1903; demolished); the original wood-frame building from the college's founding in 1828 burned down in 1856. A boys' dormitory (Carnegie, named for donor Andrew Carnegie) and a dining hall (Pearsons) also were built in the 1910-1911 time period; they - along with Clark Hall - were ready by the last term in the 1910-1911 school year. There were laboratories and classrooms in the basement of Clark. Concrete walkways connected the dorms to the dining hall between them. College president during construction was John F. Harmon, a 1900 recipient of a Doctor of Divinity degree from McKendree; he served from 1908 to 1915 and then went on to become president of Kansas Wesleyan University.Clark Hall was renovated during the summer of 1951. The student lounge on the first floor of Clark was a popular place but was in need of sprucing up by the 1960s. The wife of college president Max P. Allen took on the project with the aid of the "McKendree Dames," a ladies' organization with members from the faculty, staff, and local community. An influx of new students in the early 1960s overwhelmed the capacity of the two dorms (Clark and Carnegie). The college purchased buildings just north of campus that had been built to house students of the Southern Illinois Conference of the Methodist Church and renovated them to become McKendree student housing. McKendree paid $45,000 for the buildings, named Wesley and Cartwright Halls. The college allowed the conference to house up to 350 institute students on McKendree's campus in the summers for free. When the new school year began in 1966, Clark Hall was a men's dorm. Student numbers living on campus declined by the mid-1970s and Clark Hall was vacant. A $140,000 grant from the Fellheimer Trust in 1974 funded refurbishing of Clark. The building was converted into classrooms, a psychology laboratory, an audiovisual center, a computer laboratory and office space. The completely refurbished building officially reopened on November 20th, 1976.Environmental remediation was done within Clark Hall in late 2015 in response to an unusual cluster of respiratory illnesses in people with offices in the building. Faculty and staff moved out of their offices and the computer lab was closed. The basement was found to have the most issues with mold due to water entering cracks in the foundation and flooding after heavy rainstorms. Drains were installed to move water away from the foundation which was re-sealed. Also, carpeting and floor tiling containing asbestos were removed from the basement before the building was re-occupied.

Built in 1910 to 1911 as the residence hall for female students at McKendree College, Clark Hall now houses McKendree University's computer lab, and a number of staff and faculty offices. Student Affairs, Leadership and Student Development, International Student Services, and Show Choir are some of the occupants. Women were first admitted to McKendree College in the fall of 1869. For part of World War II, Clark Hall was divided into dorms for female students in the west half with male students in the east half; the male dormitory, Carnegie Hall, was converted into housing for Scott Field military personnel.

Clark Hall, McKendree University

McKendree University was founded in 1828 as the Lebanon Seminary and the private university is the oldest college or university in Illinois. McKendree also is the oldest university in the U.S. with a continuous relationship to the Methodist Church. The first principal of the Seminary was Edward Ames. The school's name was changed to McKendree College in 1830 to honor Bishop William McKendree, who donated 480 acres to the school.The architect and builder of the chapel are not known. The two-story chapel stands on a stone foundation with red brick walls, lintels, frieze, and pediment; the entrance, cornice, and spire are wooden. Before the bell in the chapel bell tower was recast in the 1850s, it reportedly included names and dates signifying it had been cast in Spain in the eighth century and recast in the fourteenth century. When the building was documented in 1935 under the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), the interior flooring and trim was white pine, sills were oak, and the roof was tin.Graduation exercises for the college were first held in the chapel in 1858. The second-floor auditorium is about 45 by 70 feet and was originally heated by two stoves. Some of the original, long wooden benches were still within the chapel in 1935. Steam heat was introduced in 1898 from a new steam heat plant. By 1914, the college's library was on the first floor of the building. In 1935, on top of the 145-foot-tall spire was a gilded globe about three feet wide with a nine-foot-long arrow to serve as a weathervane.A metal fire escape was salvaged from the old Lebanon grade school in 1938 and added onto the rear of the chapel building. This turned out to be handy for those who were in plays and needed to change costumes; they could use the speech studio downstairs and climb the fire escape to get back to the stage without having to walk through the audience. For many years, the exterior red brick of the chapel, Old Main, and Athleteon/ Science Hall buildings had been painted red. The red paint was removed, and damaged brick and crumbling sandy mortar were replaced. In the late summer and early fall of 1941, the auditorium on the second floor of the chapel was renovated. A ceiling was found to be damaged by a roof leak and was repaired. New wallpaper was installed and the woodwork was repainted. A pipe organ was moved from the northeast corner of the auditorium to a rear room and was repaired. New flooring was installed during this renovation, too. The room's giant velvet curtain was repurposed to use in Eisenmayer gymnasium, where a new stage was built. A new chandelier, modeled on one seen at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, was donated for the chapel.The chapel was in danger of being demolished due to its deteriorating condition by the late 1950s. Marion Bothwell left one million dollars to the college in 1957 to renovate the building. The chapel was renamed Bothwell Chapel in 1958. The foundation was repoured in the 1960s and openings for an extra set of windows which had weakened the structure was closed up. The crumbling interior plaster was repaired. The bell tower and bell had been removed in the 1950s and rebuilt in the 1960s. Steps were built in the new steeple so the historic bell could be viewed, but the bell was not to be rung, to avoid vibrations damaging the building; a recording of the bell was substituted. Famous people who received an LL. D. degree at ceremonies in the chapel include future U.S. President William McKinley and Illinois Governor Charles S. Deneen.

Constructed from 1856 to 1858, this brick chapel which includes a tall wooden spire is home to Bothwell Chapel on the McKendree University campus in Lebanon. The chapel was documented in the 1930s by the Historic American Buildings Survey and its bell is thought to be one of the oldest in the U.S., being made in Spain in the eighth century. The chapel was renamed the Marion Bothwell Chapel in 1958 to honor a donor who contributed funds used for the building's restoration. Miss Bothwell's father and uncle attended McKendree College during the Civil War.

Bothwell Chapel, McKendree University

Students at McKendree College helped build the Athleteon, under a student organization called the Athleteon Association. Funds were donated for the project. Since there were no dorms on campus in the nineteenth century, and not much use of the gymnasium for recreation, desks were eventually set up in the Athleteon for students to use when not in class. Mandatory attendance at study hall proved unpopular with the student body, so rules were relaxed. In years when enrollment was low, the college would not go to the expense of heating the Chapel building, whose large hall could seat 500, due to cost-cutting measures. So that left Old Main and the Athleteon as the main campus buildings in use. The Science Department claimed the building as their own in 1893 when A.B. Waggoner was Professor of Science.In 1894, a Sanborn map of campus shows the one-story brick building as "Hall." The former Athleteon was then one of three brick buildings on campus, with the Old Main building to the southwest and the Chapel to the southeast. In the rear yard of Old Main, west of the Athleteon, was a small, one-story wood frame building where coal was stored. In between the coal shed and Old Main was a round cistern for water storage. A dwelling was located further west of the shed, with a one-story, rectangular main block made of wood with a rectangular brick wing to the north of its west end. This probably served as the home of the president of the college (the Stevenson House, the current president's house on College St. south of College Square, didn't gain that function until the late 1910s). A new building, Eisenmayer Auditorium, was added on the east edge of campus on Alton St. in 1903, to serve as a gymnasium.The 1914 Sanborn map depicts "Science Hall" as a one-story building with a basement where two heaters were located. After the roof-raising and the addition of a second and third story to Science Hall in 1916, the biology lab occupied the second floor and the chemistry lab was on the third floor. The ground floor was divided into three classrooms, for chemistry, biology, and mathematics. There was just one staircase to the second and third floors, made of wood and in the center of the building. This posed a fire hazard. In 1938, metal fire escapes were salvaged from the old Lebanon Grade School building and were added onto the sides of Science Hall.A new science building (Voigt Science Hall) was constructed in 1965. Alexander Wildy donated funds that were used to renovate the old Science Hall in the late 1970s; the building was renamed Wildy Hall in his honor. Wildy Hall was designed to hold administrative offices for the college. In July 2007, McKendree College began transitioning into McKendree University. The university is comprised of McKendree College of the Arts and Sciences plus three schools offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business, Education, or Nursing and Health Professions.

The three-story brick building behind and between the Old Main and Bothwell Chapel buildings was built in 1868 as a one-story gymnasium called the "Athleteon." There wasn't much of an organized athletics program at McKendree College at the time, and the little-used building became a large study hall. The building was taken over by the Science Department in 1893 and became "Science Hall." In 1916, the roof of the building was removed, the interior was divided into rooms, and two more floors were added. The building was renovated for administrative offices in the late 1970s and was renamed Wildy Hall. Offices for the university's president and provost are located in Wildy Hall, as well as student financial services.

Athleteon/ Science Hall/ Wildy Hall, McKendree University

The original, wood frame building on campus was built from 1828 to the early 1830s and was used for the Lebanon Seminary from 1828 to 1830 and for McKendree College beginning in 1830. The charter for incorporation of McKendree College was agreed to in 1835; one of the men voting for the charter was Abraham Lincoln. The second main building was the new Main building, later called "Old Main." The three-story Old Main building was constructed in red brick with oak sills, stone lintels, and a wood cornice and pediment. The cornerstone was laid on Commencement Day 1850. Construction was finished on June 15, 1851. The first two stories contained classrooms and the third held halls for student literary societies. The first literary society on campus, the Philosophian, was founded in 1837; the Platonian began in 1849.When Old Main was constructed, it was meant to house a new "Normal" (teacher education) department in the college. Ten thousand dollars had been raised for the project, directed by a professor, Dr. William Goodfellow. However, the Normal school didn't become a reality until 1869, when women were first admitted to McKendree College. The original college building burned down one evening in 1856, leaving Old Main as the lone building on campus. After the fire, Old Main was used temporarily for chapel services, taking over what had become the main use of the burned building. Insurance funds from the original building were part of the money used to build the new chapel in 1857, to the east of Old Main. When young ladies were admitted to the college in 1869, one of the first things they did was establish their own literary society, the Clionian. Their hall was in the chapel building.When Old Main was documented in 1935 for the Historic American Buildings Survey, it was one of nine buildings on campus. The side gable roof was covered in tin. A brick vault was built on the first floor in the 1920s or early 1930s to hold student records. The Georgian style structure features a central entrance in the middle of the five-bay longer sides. The entrance with white pine doors (in 1935) is larger and more elaborate on the main (south) side than on the north facade. Red paint was removed from the exterior surface of the brick in the late 1930s, and crumbling mortar and damaged bricks were replaced.After renovation in the 1960s, Old Main's first floor held administrative offices and the second floor was classroom space; a lecture hall and literary society rooms occupied the third floor. After the mid-1960s renovation of the first floor, office space for the college's president, the academic deans, and their staffs was doubled. New wood paneling was installed in the entrance corridor and new restrooms were built on the first floor. Faculty, staff, and students toured the new offices in an open house on November 22nd, 1965. McKendree College became McKendree University in 2007, a private liberal arts school offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. The registrar and graduate admissions offices are now housed in Old Main, plus the literary society rooms (Philo and Plato Halls).

Old Main, a three-story brick building on the McKendree University campus in Lebanon, east of Stanton St., north of College Rd., and west of Bothwell Chapel, is the oldest surviving building on campus. It was constructed from 1850 to 1851 as the second campus building. McKendree University started out in 1828 as Lebanon Seminary and then became McKendree College two years later; it is the oldest college in Illinois and the oldest U.S. college with a continuous association with the Methodist Church. Old Main formerly held classrooms and halls for student literary societies. The building was the subject of a Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930s and is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District. The McKendree U. registrar and graduate admissions have offices in Old Main; the literary society rooms were renovated in 1999.

Old Main, McKendree University

James Riggin was born in Tennessee in 1794 and moved to Illinois in 1818 with his older brother, Harry. They settled in a new town called Troy and married Rogers sisters. James and his new wife, Elizabeth M., moved to Lebanon, where Riggin was successful in a mercantile business. James was one of the 105 subscribers who founded Lebanon Seminary in 1828 (which became McKendree College in 1830); he served as a trustee and secretary of the college for years. James and Elizabeth had at least two children: William Bolivar, born in St. Clair County (Lebanon) in 1826, and James H., born in Illinois.James H. Riggin graduated from the local Methodist college, McKendree, in 1850. At college, Riggin founded one of the school's literary societies, the Platonian. He was a successful businessman in Lebanon after graduation, but he suffered from a mental breakdown several years later and was placed in a hospital for the insane at Jacksonville. James H. died at the hospital years later and is buried in Lebanon's College Hill Cemetery. His brother, William B., graduated from McKendree in 1851 at age 25 and was a member of the other literary society, the Philosophian. He studied medicine and earned an M.D. degree but died in 1856 in North Carolina. James Riggin (Sr.) died in 1858; he is buried in College Hill Cemetery, along with his wife Elizabeth, who lived until 1875. The widowed Elizabeth was living with her son James H. in 1860.George Bernays was a wealthy physician who either had the house built on the former Riggin lot from scratch in the 1860s or incorporated some of the Riggin House into his new Italianate style home. The main block of the brick house is two stories with a three-story front tower. In 1870, George (age 46) was still working as a physician; he was born in Bavaria and owned $8,000 in real estate plus $1,600 in personal property. He shared his Lebanon home with wife Wilhelmina (36), a native of Prussia; sons John (17, store clerk), Augustus (15) and Clemens (13); and daughters Thekla (14) and Lily (9). John was born in Alabama and the other children were natives of Illinois. Also living in the Bernays home were Louisa Doerung (46); domestic servant Caterina Nolt (16); Paulina Mueller (22), and Augusta Mueller (20).George Bernays' son, Augustus, was a brilliant student who graduated from McKendree College at age 18. The Bernays family moved to Germany around 1874 so that Augustus could study medicine at Heidelberg University. We worked in several places in Europe and was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons. When he returned to the U.S., Dr. Augustus Bernays settled in St. Louis. He was a pioneer in abdominal surgery and the use of antiseptic treatments; he was a noted teacher and invented several surgical instruments.Another child of George Bernays, daughter Thekla, also attended McKendree College, after they began admitting women. Thekla was born in Madison, Illinois around 1846. She did not graduate college because of the family's move to Germany, but McKendree awarded her an honorary degree in 1902 to recognize her literary work. She wrote a book about her brother Augustus, the surgeon's career, and was published in magazines and newspapers. She lived in St. Louis and then New York City by the late 1920s.Around the turn of the twentieth century, an alleyway was cut through the large lot, near the rear wings. The house lot was reduced in size to about the northwest quarter of the prior lot by the 1910s. Fred Pesold, who headed McKendree's Music Department, owned the house in this era. Pesold was born in 1851 and came to Lebanon from Germany in 1869. Fred married Louise Reinhart of Lebanon in 1873. While in Germany, Fred received musical training from his grandfather who was a friend of noted composer Richard Wagner. Pesold had a music studio in Lebanon on the second floor of a commercial building, above his jewelry store. For many years, Fred directed the Lebanon Singing Society. Fred died in 1926 and is buried in College Hill Cemetery.

This stately Lebanon home is known as the James Riggin/George Bernays House. Although Riggin was associated with this address by the late 1830s, including a 2.5-story house by 1847, the Italianate-style house appears to date to around 1866 but parts of the earlier house where Riggin lived may have been incorporated into the new construction. In the mid-1860s, a wealthy physician from St. Louis named George Bernays relocated to Lebanon and lived in this house. A member of the Bernays family graduated from McKendree College and became a well-known surgeon. By the turn of the twentieth century, the house was the home of the head of McKendree's Music Department, Fred Pesold. The historic house is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District, listed in 1978.

James Riggin - George Bernays House

The Bachmann Building stands one block west of the public square, within the original town limits of Lebanon. The town's first buildings were erected in the 1820s, although the oldest still standing (The Mermaid Inn, also a Clio entry) was built in 1830. This building is thought to date to 1878, and like most of the commercial core of the town, is part of the Lebanon Historic District. The Italianate style front and the Mansard style roof appear to have been added onto the existing two-story brick structure.Henry Bachmann's furniture store was located in this building by 1881. Bachmann was one of two furniture stores in Lebanon by 1881, with the other owned by Louis Reichenbecher Jr. The Bachmann family also ran an undertakers' business. A wooden, rectangular two-story stable for the horses needed for the business was located on the next corner, to the rear of this building, at the southeast corner of Cherry and Pearl Streets, by 1894. Both commercial spaces at the west end of the Bachmann Building held the furniture store by 1894. The furniture store was only in the far west commercial space (315 St. Louis, now 125 W. Louis) by 1906, with a room in the rear half of the building used for storage. Next door at 316 St. Louis (now 123 W. Louis) was a carpet and wallpaper shop. A rear wing on the carpet store was one story, wood frame construction.In 1914, there was still a furniture store in the corner commercial space (315) and the carpet and wallpaper shop next door (316). The brick rear wing of the furniture store was a smaller room and had an address of 407 Pearl St. The rear wing of the carpet shop was still one story tall but the walls adjacent to the building (west and south) had been rebuilt of brick; the other walls were still constructed of wood. The wooden stable to the rear of the building was replaced between 1906 and 1914 with a two-story square carriage house for the undertakers' business, of wooden construction faced in stone.The commercial spaces contained Heer's General Store by the late 1970s. In 2016, when the two commercial spaces were offered for lease, the corner ground floor space was The Tapestry Room, a restaurant with seating for 68 guests and a commercial kitchen; the other ground floor space was a gift shop. More recently, the corner commercial space held Mangiamo Cafe, but they have moved to 220 W. St. Louis; Sips Art Bar is the current tenant, in a space with hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, and 11-foot-tall tin ceilings. The other commercial space holds Stephen Johnson Antiques. The second and third floors hold a studio apartment and a two-bedroom apartment. A detached, two-story 40-by-40-foot garage to the rear of the building is the former carriage house.

The commercial building at the northeast corner of W. Louis and Pearl Streets with the distinctive mansard style roof was built around 1878. Henry Bachmann's furniture business occupied part of the building in 1881. To the rear was a wooden stable for the family's undertaking business; this was replaced with a carriage house by 1914 which is now a two-car garage. The Bachmann Building is part of the Lebanon National Register Historic District, listed in 1978. The commercial building contains Sips Art Bar (an art party business) on the corner at 125, Stephen Johnson Antiques at 123, and two apartments on the upper floors at 123A and 125B.

Historical Lebanon, Illinois driving tour, National Register Historic District, 19th to early 20th century

The Mermaid House Inn

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information