Garfield Farm and Inn

Timothy P. Garfield’s 1840’s farm and teamster inn typifies the establishment of commercial farming and the transportation network that made Chicago a major trade center. As one of 41 inns located on the Chicago-St. Charles road between here and Randolph Street, Garfield’s Inn cared for teamsters as they traveled to market with their grain laden wagons. Chicago’s growth depended upon the rich Illinois prairie soils that produced bountiful crops. Farm expansion created industrial growth with John Deere’s steel plow and Cyrus McCormick’s reaper increasing acreage farmed. Illinois thus became of state of “plowed fields whereby we thrive” (J.H. Fabre).