Recently Fred Massaglia brought an old photograph to the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society (see the Sept. 2022 issue of the TCGHS Monthly). The subject of the photograph was an old Pekin business called “Union House,” a hotel and tavern (or saloon) with an accompanying beer garden.
Old Pekin city directories shows that Union House formerly stood at 130 Court St., the southwest corner of Court and Second streets. It first appears in Pekin city directories in 1876, when it is listed at 132 Court St., and owned and operated by a German immigrant named Dietrich Leonard.
The 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Pekin shows the southwest corner of Court and Second to have then been occupied by an unnamed “Saloon.” Two years after that, the 1887 Pekin City Directory lists Union House under “Hotels,” giving the address as 130 Court St. rather than “132.” In that directory, the proprietor of Union House is said to be “Dietrich Leonhard.”
It was probably around 1890 that Leonard sold his business to another German immigrant named Henry Eberhard, who first appears in the Pekin city directories in 1887, when he was an organ builder at Hinners & Albertsen and lived at 1106 Ann Eliza St.
Eberhard appears as the proprietor of Union House in 1893 and again in 1895. Soon after that, he seems to have sold out and moved to Peoria, where we find him in the 1900 U.S Census working as a carpenter and living with his wife Mary and brother-in-law John Lautenschleger. The census record says Henry was born in Oct. 1866 in Germany and immigrated to America in 1884, while Mary was born in April 1869 in Germany. Their Tazewell County marriage record shows they were married on 6 Nov. 1888, and says Henry was the son of Hyronimus Eberhardt and Christine Therolf, while Mary was the daughter of Jacob Lautenschleger and Christine Kraemer.
Eberhard sold Union House to yet another German immigrant named John Eidenmueller or Eidenmuller, who is listed as proprietor of Union House in the 1898 and 1904 Pekin city directories. John H. Eidenmueller was born in 1846 in Hesse-Darmstadt, a son of Georg and Gertrude (Barth) Eidenmueller. He died in Pekin on 31 March 1927 and is buried alongside his wife Julia (Becker) Eidenmueller in Lakeside Cemetery.
Eidenmueller sold Union House to the Taubert Brothers, one of whom was Henry L. Taubert, who became the last proprietor of Union House. “Taubert Bros.” are listed as proprietors in the 1908 Pekin City Directory. Afterward, Henry L. Taubert is listed as sole proprietor from 1909 to 1924. Union House does not appear in the Pekin city directories after 1924.
The 1908 director entry reads, “UNION HOUSE, Taubert Bros., Proprs, Sample Room and Summer Garden in connection, 130 Court. Citizens phone 533,” The following year, the entry says, “UNION HOUSE, Henry L. Taubert, propr, Sample Room and agt Leisy Brewing Co. Summer Garden in Connection, 130 Court. Citizens phone 533.”
In 1914, however, the directory misspells Taubert’s name: “UNION HOUSE, H. L. Taulbert, prop. Agent for the Celebrated Leisy Beer, which is always on Tap, Cool and Refreshing, 130 Court. Citz phone 74.”
A close examination of Fred Massaglia’s photograph of Union House shows a sign at the front corner of the façade that seems to say that “…RHARD” was “prop.” of the “Union Hotel.” That must be “Henry Eberhard,” second proprietor of Union House. Thus, the photograph must have been taken in the early to mid-1890s, and Henry himself must be one of the nine men shown in the photo. He is probably the man standing in the very middle just in front of the double doors.
The other eight men were probably employees or friends (or relatives) of Eberhard. A close examination of the 1893 and 1895 city directories might be able to locate other Union Hotel staff members, who probably were among those posing in the photo.
