Hotel Baker

About this property

Hotel Baker is a historic landmark in St. Charles, Illinois, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been in and out of the hotel business since 1928. It was 1926 when the groundbreaking began at a site of a garbage dump at the Main Street bridge. Col. Edward J. Baker envisioned a luxury hotel, a resort and escape for the community of St. Charles, and an icon to the world for what big things were happening there. The Hotel Baker was Col. Baker's home. Col. Baker was a farmer. He and his niece Dellora Norris inherited the fortune of the founder of Texaco Oil, Col. Baker's brother-in-law John Gates. Col. Baker and his niece Dellora invested the money in the town. With every gift they gave, they gave with quiet graciousness. Col. Baker gave in abundance and ran the Hotel Baker at a yearly deficit. He was friends with people from all walks of life and wanted people to enjoy beauty and luxury no matter where they came from. When he decided to build the Hotel Baker, he told the architects to build their masterpiece. He lost his son and then his wife, and instead of living alone in the house, he moved into the hotel, where he was always there to welcome people. The Hotel Baker was built on the site of the old Haines Mill, which had been destroyed by fire in 1918 and was then used as a dumping grounds for seven years. Col. Baker believed that a garbage dump should not be the focal point of his hometown, so he bought the land and construction commenced on what was to be "the World's finest small hotel." The Hotel cost a rounded sum of $1,250,000 to build. The Hotel Baker was built with its own operating hydroelectric facility, the first-ever lighted dance floor of its kind, and there was a radio station established from the hotel's tower (which now exists as the "Penthouse Suite"). The Hotel Baker Gardens originally extended further than they do today, featuring a fishing pond and nine-hole miniature golf course. The hotel had its own parking garage. Designed to be as elaborate as the hotel, the Hotel Baker Garage opened in 1930 with a Hudson dealership, complete service garage, wash bay, Texaco gas station, and parking on the second floor for all of the hotel's guests. The parking garage was demolished in 1983 to make way for the assisted living facility Carroll Tower. The hotel opened to the public on June 2, 1928, hosting a dinner for 301. Rooms cost $2.50 a night. Each room was decorated in its own unique style, so that no two rooms were alike. Col. Baker considered himself "first and foremost a farmer" and owned nine farms in the Fox Valley area, from which food was provided to the Hotel Baker for guaranteed freshness in its kitchens.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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