Spring Valley House-Sulfur Springs Hotel

Dee Bennett Road, just outside Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois, runs past a four-story limestone hotel built around 1849 between the Illinois River and the old stage coach road. Known as the Spring Valley House or Sulphur Springs Hotel, and later as the "Half-Way House," it measures about 63 by 42 feet and has a hip roof, coursed rubble walls and a central ashlar pavilion on the north front. Inside are guest rooms, a fourth-floor ballroom and small "sarsaparilla rooms" for drinks. Natural springs on the site fed a spring house that still supplies water. The hotel served stage travelers and also operated as a resort, drawing visitors for the sulphur waters and for entertainers, including violinist Ole Bull. Railroads and the canal reduced stage traffic, and the hotel fell out of use around 1862. It is considered important for its place in regional commerce and transportation and as an example of early limestone construction with classical features. It is now a private home.