Lisle in DuPage County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Beaubien Tavern

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, July 2, 2026

1. Beaubien Tavern Marker

Inscription. Taverns weren't just a place to get a drink - they were places where people could meet, stay the night, do business, and even sign city charters!

This Tavern was originally located along the Southwest Plank Road (Odgen Avenue) near the Lisle-Naperville border. The building was built in the 1830s by William Sweet. He traded the tavern along with a 106-acre farm to Mark Beaubien in 1841 in return for Beaubien's Sauganash Hotel, another historic establishment located at Chicago's Wolf Point.

From 1841 to c.1859, the Beaubien family operated the tavern and its toll gate, offering food, drink and accommodations to travelers. Located a day's journey from Chicago (26 miles), the Beaubien Tavern was a good place for travelers to rest. Visitors traveling the plank road could rent blankets and pillows to sleep on when staying in the second-floor bedrooms. It also served as a gathering place for new residents of Lisle and the Potawatomi people.

Mark Beaubien was known for being a jolly fellow who played the fiddle and knew how to tell a good story. He and his first wife, Monique, had a total of 16 children before she died.

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He remarried a woman named Elizabeth and the two had seven of their own children. He left Lisle and moved to Kankakee where he lived the rest of his life and passed away in 1881, at the age of 81.

In 1989, the Beaubien Tavern was moved to the museum campus and restored to welcome guests just as Mark Beaubien welcomed weary travelers in the mid-1800s.

Erected by The Museums at Lisle Station.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1841.

Location. 41° 47.974′ N, 88° 4.26′ W. Marker is in Lisle, Illinois, in DuPage County. It is on School Street east of Center Avenue, on the right when traveling east. The marker is in front of the Beaubien Tavern at Lisle Station Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 921 School Street, Lisle IL 60532, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

Beaubien Tavern image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, July 2, 2026

2. Beaubien Tavern

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture

and also the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Netzley/Yender House (a few steps from this marker); Kitchen Garden & Yender Outhouse (a few steps from this marker); A Few Thoughts on Democracy (within shouting distance of this marker); Democracy (within shouting distance of this marker); Farming in Lisle (within shouting distance of this marker); Yender Dairy Receipts (within shouting distance of this marker); Blacksmith Shop (within shouting distance of this marker); Weather Stick (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lisle.

Regarding Beaubien Tavern. Mark Beaubien was the younger brother of Jean Baptiste Beaubien, one of the earliest settlers in what would become the City of Chicago. Mark Beaubien arrived in 1826 and opened Sauganash Hotel, which was located on Wolf Point (where the south and north branches of the Chicago River converge) and is

Mark Beaubien (1800-1881) image. Click for full size.

Courtesy of Chicago History Museum (ICHi-026424), circa 1860

3. Mark Beaubien (1800-1881)

considered Chicago's first hotel. He later moved to Lisle and lived in this home, which was originally located along Ogden Avenue. (His brother eventually settled in Naperville, just southwest of Lisle). Mark Beaubien died in Kankakee in 1881 and is buried there.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Mark Beaubien in Chicago

Also see . . .
1. The History of Chicagoan Mark Beaubien, the Hospitality Guru began in 1830. From the Digital Research Library of the Illinois History Journal.

Excerpt: "Listed in the 1839 City Directory as hotel-keeper, Lake Street. In 1840, Mark moved to Lisle, Illinois, with his family, where he acquired farmland from William Sweet south of Sweet's Grove and also a cabin located immediately west of the Beaubien Cemetery (a small cemetery on land set aside by Mark Beaubien on Ogden Avenue in Lisle). The cabin soon became Beaubien Tavern while it was still home to the residing family.

"Mark was also listed as a U.S. lighthouse keeper in the 1843 Chicago City Directory. From 1851 to 1857 he used the Beaubien Tavern building as a toll station for the
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Southwest Plank Road (running from Lisle to Chicago), with his son collecting the toll."

(Submitted on July 6, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. Chicagology: Mark Beaubien.

Excerpt: "In all the history of Chicago, there is no more delightful figure than that of the rollicking, fiddling, singing, innkeeper, merchant, ferryman and good fellow, Mark Beaubien. From the year 1832 when a lively, careless, adventurous young blade from Detroit, he came to this city, he wove a brilliant thread of vivacity into the sometimes somber fabric of the social life of the settlement, until, at the age of eighty-one, he died peacefully at Kankakee."

(Submitted on July 6, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on July 6, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 6, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 5 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 6, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.