Sauganash Hotel

Sauganash Hotel
Sauganash Hotel, c. 1830–33 (the smaller building on the left was Chicago's first drug store)
Interactive map of the Sauganash Hotel area
General information
Completed1831 (1831)
Closed1851 (1851)
Technical details
Floor count2

Sauganash Hotel (originally Eagle Exchange Tavern) was a hotel regarded as the first hotel in Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1831, the hotel 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 its dining hall area briefly served as Chicago's first commercial theater. It was named after Billy Caldwell, called Sauganash meaning Englishman, a captain in the British Indian Department and son of William Caldwell.