Archer House Hotel
The Archer House Hotel is a historic hotel located at 717 Archer Ave. in Marshall, Illinois. William B. Archer, the founder of Marshall, opened the hotel in 1841. The brick hotel was one of the most lavish buildings in the city upon its opening. As a stopping point for stagecoach lines, the hotel was also the city's social center and the first place to receive out-of-town news. Archer was a Republican member of the Illinois Legislature for sixteen years and a friend and colleague of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln regularly visited Marshall, and he stayed in the hotel during his visits. Another U.S. president, Grover Cleveland, has also stayed at the hotel.
The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1976.
From 1933–43, during the years when it was known as the National-Dixie Hotel, three of the rooms served as the Central Office of Pi Beta Phi fraternity for Women. Marshall resident Beatrice Stephenson Purdunn, a Pi Beta Phi alumna from the University of Illinois chapter. served as the Director of the Central Office.
