Springfield's Murray House

On the evening of February 14, 1840, a devastating fire tore through the Fisher Block on Main between Primrose Alley and Limestone and jumped across the street, where any further spread was finally stopped by the east firewall of Peter Murray’s dry goods store at the northeast corner of Limestone and Main.

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Almost ten year later he opened the 72-room Murray House, shown here, which underwent many remodels and name changes over the years including the Willis House, Knaub House, the St. James Hotel, and later the Cherry Hotel before the land was purchased in 1915 to build the Shawnee Hotel.

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Today, the Shawnee Hotel building still stands at the corner of Limestone and Main Streets but is an apartment building not a hotel.

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