Batavia Institute

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.Batavia Institute: Charter (12 February 1853). The original, handwritten charter is now in the Archives at Beloit College in Wisconsin.

The original building, 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.

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.Proceedings of the [Illinois] Board of Education (Peoria), May 7, 1857.Marshall, Helen E. Grandest of Enterprises: Illinois State University, 1857–1957. Normal, Ill.: Illinois State University, 1956, pp. 22–23

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 placed in a mental hospital.{{Cite web |title=Mary Todd Lincoln |url=https://www.bataviahistoricalsociety.org/exhibits-collections/batavians-overview/mary-todd-lincoln/ |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=Batavia Historical Society |language=en-US}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Batavia Institute / Bellevue Place, 1853 |url=https://www.enjoyaurora.com/listing/batavia-institute-bellevue-place-1853/746/ |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=www.enjoyaurora.com |language=en-us}}

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 13 August 1976.{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form|url=http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/PDFs/200722.pdf|publisher=Illinois Historic Preservation Agency|work=HAARGIS Database|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-08-04}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Batavia Institute (Batavia, IL)}}

{{Registered Historic Places}}

Category:1853 establishments in Illinois

Category:Buildings and structures in Batavia, Illinois

Category:Buildings and structures in Kane County, Illinois

Category:Defunct hospitals in Illinois

Category:Defunct schools in Illinois

Category:Educational institutions established in 1853

Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1867

Category:Hospitals established in 1867

Category:Hospitals disestablished in 1965

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Kane County, Illinois

Category:School buildings completed in 1854

Category:Tuberculosis sanatoria in the United States

Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois