St. Charles
Hotel Baker
Colonel Edward J. Baker's 1928 Spanish Revival hotel on the Fox River, with its own hydroelectric plant, once the 'Honeymoon Hotel.'
- Built
- 1928Erected 1928 for Colonel Edward J. Baker (official); NRHP significant years 1926, 1928.
- Style
- Spanish Revival ('Spanish-Moroccan' per the hotel)
- Architect
- Wolf, Sexton, Harper & Trueax
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Rooms
- 53
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Colonel Edward J. Baker built the hotel in 1928 on the former Haines Mill site on the Fox River, with its own hydroelectric plant, a parking garage and the Rainbow Room, which the hotel says had the first lighted dance floor. It was recognized at Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair as one of the area’s best places to stay, and from the 1930s to the 1950s it drew Chicago visitors as a resort and earned the nickname ‘Honeymoon Hotel.’ It is known locally as the ‘Crown Jewel of the Fox.’
The ghost story
Haunted Rooms relays the legend of a chambermaid, jilted at the altar, who drowned herself in the Fox River and whose spirit 'has returned to work'; guests in the former maids' quarters report disturbed bedding and 'disembodied sobbing.'
Source: www.hauntedrooms.com
Good to know
- Address: 100 W. Main Street, St. Charles, IL 60174
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.