Signature Inn, Springfield, Illinois

aerial imagery courtesy of Bing Maps

map graphic courtesy of signature-inns.com at archive.org

Signature Inn opened what appears to be its final location in Springfield, Illinois, sometime in 1997.  property records show a June 1997 sale date; in that same information, I found a letter dated June 4, 1997, addressed from Signature Inn to the town collector giving an address where to mail future bills & assessment notices.  I tried but was unable to find any newspaper articles on the opening.  Seeing as how Carmel opened in February, it's entirely likely that this was it as far as new locations.

This hotel opened in 1969 as a Sheraton Hotel.  It became a Best Western in 1991, before becoming a Signature Inn in 1997.  Below is an undated postcard scan I found while browsing the Sangamon County Auditor's site that shows the hotel as a Sheraton:

Upon conversion to a Signature Inn, the hotel received a drive-through canopy in the style of nearly all of the rest of their hotels...

1997 photo, courtesy of Sangamon County auditor

While I found it neat to find a Polaroid shot of the front of the hotel shortly after its opening, I feel the below shot from 2007 gives a better view of the front of the hotel.

2007 photo, courtesy of Sangamon County auditor.

Signature Inn would remain operating at this location until February 2010, when it was determined that upgrading the hotel was too expensive and business had decreased.  Unlike other locations, this remained a Signature Inn through the Jameson merger until its closure.  The building would only stand for only about a month or so, until demolition commenced in mid-March 2010.  A Country Inn & Suites and a Shell Jiffi Stop would be the eventual replacements for the hotel.

Newspaper articles from the State Journal-Register (you can read 7 free articles a month):
➤Two hotels planned at Signature Inn site
➤Local hotels in spruce-up mood
➤Convenience store plan in place for old Signature Inn
➤Days Inn closes, Residence Inn slated to open at Dirksen and Stevenson - This article doesn't quite pertain to the Signature Inn site, though there are a couple of notable dates at the bottom.
➤Old Signature Inn site to be subdivided
➤Shell Jiffi Stop planned at Dirksen and Stevenson

Below is a Google Maps capture from May 2012 showing the hotel site.  Interesting the highway sign (at far left) remained for 2 1/2 years:

Finally, a shot of the hotel's property from a September 2014 Google Maps capture:

sources for this post include the Sangamon County, Illinois, auditor's website, signature-inns.com archived at archive.org, jamesoninns.com archived at archive.org, and imagery found through Bing Maps and Google Maps.  Newspaper information courtesy of The State Journal-Register

Photographs of other Signature Inn locations can be found here: Formerly Signature Inn by Ryan on Flickr