Twelve Mile House was an inn, stagecoach stop and post office in the early 19th century. It later became one of the landmarks used when Illinois officials designed the highway that became Route 66 and then Interstate 55.
Where, exactly, was Twelve Mile House? The probable historic location can be seen on the drawing above, which is a modern (2005), more readable version of a map originally done by Matthew Marsh in 1837.
The point just above center marked “Hussey’s” was an inn apparently operated by Nathan Hussey (1785-1857), a Pennsylvania native who settled in Sangamon County in 1819. He emigrated again, to Oregon, in 1845.
For more on Twelve Mile House, see SangamonLink’s entry titled Two Mile House.
This entry has been expanded. Hat tip, as is often the case, to Curtis Mann of the Sangamon Valley Collection at Springfield’s Lincoln Library, who located the map identifying Hussey’s.
Original content copyright Sangamon County Historical Society. You are free to republish this content as long as credit is given to the Society.
I was very interested in the information on the Twelve Mile House; and was gratified to see for my first time this historical reference of name but also of location. Growing up in Cantrall we referred to this location as the “Twelve Mile House” and i was told this was a stage coach stop. In the developing story i am writing about Cantrall, IL, i make reference to this house as one stop i made while delivering coal from Eddy Coal Co (while a high school or college student in the early 60’s in the employee of Charlie Fisher). The owner at the time wanted the coal washed prior to unloading to keep dust down. Driving past there numerous times i noticed the driveway (50-60 years ago) had entrance/exit on both the north and east side of the property. I always visualized the importance of that to rein a stagecoach into and out of the property. The location, of course, is at the corner where IL Route 124 takes a 90 degree turn from north to west on its way to meet IL Route 29 about 2 miles north of Cantrall.
Thanks for the extra background, Andy. I’d be interested in seeing your Cantrall story if/when you want to share it.
Your website has been a most valuable resource for my digging and scratching. It will be an honor to share it with you.