The Dandy Inn at  1030 Lincoln Highway, has been in operation since the 19th century.  It is closing its doors this week.  (Photo courtesy of The Dandy Inn)

The Dandy Inn, a Fairview Heights institution with roots dating back to the 1800s, is closing this week, according to owner Dave Daniels.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that we will be closing our doors. Our last day open to the public will be on Sunday, Jan 15., 2017,” Daniels said in Facebook post last week.

Daniels and wife Phyllis have operated the Dandy Inn, 1030 Lincoln Highway, for 40 years. The family-friendly restaurant and tavern near the O’Fallon-Fairview Heights boundary is widely known for its chicken wings, large crowds, and convivial atmosphere.

Originally opened as Becherer’s Tavern in 1850, the Dandy Inn’s present, two-story brick structure has over the years served as a general store and dancehall, well as a restaurant-tavern. Abraham Lincoln is widely believed to have been an early patron.

However, the inn began life years earlier as a one-room log cabin — with a well and horse trough in front — offering food, water, and supplies to travelers on the old Vincennes Trail to America’s newly opened western territory. It quickly became a popular gathering place and supply depot for area farmers.

As mining expanded the local economy and rail lines brought new travelers through the region, additions to the tavern were constructed, encompassing the original wooden structure, to accommodate an expanding clientele.

Miners and settlers began building homesteads around the tavern that had become the focal point of a growing community — establishing the residential cores of what are today O’Fallon and Fairview Heights.

As the automobile became popular in the early 1900s, and the trail became U.S. 50, the inn offered one of the area’s first gasoline pumps.

As additional businesses were established nearby, the area around inn developed into what is today the O’Fallon-Fairview Heights commercial district — widely regarded as the shopping hub of southwestern Illinois.

Daniels, in his Facebook post, does not specifically indicate the reason for the closing or plans for the Dandy Inn property.

However, some locals hold out hope the inn could open again.  The inn was closed by the Becherer family on Dec. 31, 1976. The Daniels purchased and reopened it on April 1, 1977.

–Popular, historic Dandy Inn closes–