Batavia Institute

Batavia Institute
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Batavia, Kane County, Illinois, United States
Coordinates	41°50′40.49″N 88°18′58.6″W / 41.8445806°N 88.316278°W / 41.8445806; -88.316278
Built	1853
Architect	Town, Elijah Shumway
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	76000712 [1]
Added to NRHP	August 13, 1976

The Batavia Institute (currently recognized name) also known as Bellevue Place Sanitarium or is a Registered Historic Place in Batavia, Illinois, US.

Batavia Institute, a private academy, was chartered on 12 February 1853 by 13 men, including Rev. Stephen Peet, the Congregational minister, Elijah Shumway Town, Joel McKee, John Van Nortwick, Dennison K. Town, who settled in Batavia in 1839 as its first physician, and Isaac G. Wilson.^[2]

The building's central part, which still stands in Batavia at 333 South Jefferson Street, at Union Avenue, was constructed in 1853–1854 of locally quarried limestone at a cost of $20,000. The architect Elijah Shumway Town designed the building in a Greek Revival style.^[3]

Bids were opened by the State Board of Education in Peoria on 7 May 1857. The first proposition on the agenda was from Batavia, which offered a subscription of $15,000, with the land and building belonging to the Batavia Institute, valued at $30,000, making $45,000 in all. Washington, in Tazewell County, Bloomington, and Peoria submitted proposals, as well.^[4][5]

In 1875, following the death of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, ten years later, Mary Todd Lincoln was committed to Bellevue Place Sanitarium, formerly known as the Batavia Institute. A Chicago court deemed that Mrs. Lincoln behaved "irrationally" and ordered her to be place in a mental hospital. ^[6] Mrs. Lincoln stayed for less than four months at the Bellevue Place prior to being released to her sister, Elizabeth where she assumed her care in Springfield.

In the 1960s, the building was converted to a residential facility for unwed mothers named the 'Fox Hill Home', which operated until the 1970s. In the mid 80s, the building was once again named Bellevue Place and converted into apartments which are lived in as of today. The building is not publicly accessible. ^[7]

According to a resident at Bellevue Place, it was believed that there was a tunnel that connected from the basement to Dr. Richard J's house, which was across the street. There are little to no remains of the original architecture today other than the exterior.

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 13 August 1976.^[3]

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