Archer House Hotel - Marshall, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 23.460 W 087° 41.658
16S E 440211 N 4360397
Built in 1841 as a stagecoach stop, the Archer House is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois.
Waymark Code: WMVZ53
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 06/14/2017
Views: 1
County of Hotel: Clark County
Location of Hotel: Archer Ave. & Michigan Ave., Marshall
Marker Placed by: The Clark County Historical Society
Date Marker Placed: September 1977
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Marker Text:
The Archer House
National Historic Landmark
This structure was erected in 1841 by Col. Wm. B. Archer, founder of Marshall, and John Bartlett and has been in continuous use as a hotel. It was an important stage coach stop on the early Cumberland Road where many prominent people, including Abraham Lincoln and Grover Cleveland, stayed.
Marshall was officially organized by William B. Archer in 1835, eight years after the National Road entered the community.
In 1863, Marshall was the scene of conflict in which local Copperheads, who opposed the Civil War, sought to protect soldiers who had deserted from the Union Army. In March, 1863, an Army detail from Indiana arrested several deserters. A local judge, Charles H. Constable, freed the deserters and ordered the arrest of two Union sergeants on kidnapping charges. This resulted in the dispatch of 250 soldiers under the command of Col. Henry B. Carrington by special train from Indianapolis, who surrounded the courthouse, freed the sergeants and arrested Judge Constable. The Judge was, however, absolved several months later after presenting a highly technical defense.