Every landmark starts as a leap of faith. Ours began in 1974, at the corner where historic Route 66 meets La Grange Road, when Stanley and Zdenka Lenoch decided the Chicago suburbs deserved a little piece of the Alps.
The Lenochs were immigrants from Eastern Europe who believed hospitality was something you built with your own hands. They named their hotel after William Tell, the Swiss folk hero who refused to bow, and they meant it: this would be a place with a point of view. Chalet-style rooflines on the Illinois prairie. Stained-glass windows. A restaurant that became famous across Chicagoland. And on the best nights, live yodelers and an Alphorn in the dining room.
Nobody was building hotels like that in Countryside. Nobody has since.
A Resort on Route 66
The early advertisements read like a postcard from another era: one hundred elegantly appointed rooms, a luxurious indoor pool with adjoining terrace, a miniature golf course, a driving range, and the William Tell Restaurant and Lounge with banquet facilities galore.
The location did the rest. Sitting right on Joliet Road, the hotel became one of the most distinctive stops on the Route 66 corridor near Chicago — a first night out of the city for travelers heading southwest, and a landmark locals gave directions by. Classic car clubs pulled in for Route 66 heritage events. Families drove out from the city for Sunday brunch under the Swiss decor.
The hotel’s neighbor, Brookfield Zoo, was part of the draw even then
The Gathering Place Years
Ask around the western suburbs and you'll find the William Tell woven through family histories. Wedding receptions. Anniversary dinners. Czech and Slovak community banquets that filled the halls with music. The Midwest Fleadh Cheoil, one of the country's major Irish music gatherings. Conferences, trade shows, milestone birthdays. For four decades under the Lenoch family, and in the years that followed, the hotel did the quiet work that landmarks do: it held the moments people remember. That's a different kind of significance than architecture or amenities. It's the reason the name never faded, even when the sign out front changed.
A Landmark Reimagined
Names carry weight here. So when the property was thoughtfully restored and reintroduced as the William Tell Hotel, part of the MOD Collection by Sonesta, the brief was never to build something new. It was to bring something back, with the soul intact. The restoration honors both threads of the hotel's identity. The Swiss heritage lives on in the name, the craft, and the warmth of the welcome. The Route 66 spirit lives on in Tell's Tavern, in the road out front, and in a certain unhurried confidence: Swiss precision meets American spirit.
Visit Tell's Tavern
Thoughtfully restored. Locally rooted. And arriving at just the right moment — because in 2026, the road that made this corner famous turns one hundred. Countryside is one of sixteen Illinois communities receiving an official Route 66 Shield Monument for the centennial, a permanent marker of what this stretch of Joliet Road has meant for a century.
See our guide to the Route 66 centennial in Illinois
The Next Fifty Years
A hotel this old is really a promise this old: that there will be a light on at the corner of Route 66 and La Grange Road, a good meal downstairs, and a room where the past meets your present.
The Lenochs kept that promise for decades. We intend to keep it for decades more. Come see what a quiet kind of iconic looks like.
FAQ
When was the William Tell Hotel built?
The William Tell Hotel was established in 1974 by Stanley and Zdenka Lenoch at the junction of historic Route 66 (Joliet Road) and La Grange Road in Countryside, Illinois. It has been a landmark of the southwest Chicago suburbs for more than fifty years.
Why is it called the William Tell Hotel?
The founders, immigrants from Eastern Europe, named the hotel after William Tell, the legendary Swiss folk hero, and built it with a distinctive Alpine theme, from chalet-style architecture to stained-glass windows, to bring European charm to Illinois.
Is the William Tell Hotel on Route 66?
Yes. The hotel sits directly on Joliet Road, a historic alignment of U.S. Route 66, making it one of the notable stops on the Mother Road corridor southwest of Chicago.
What is the William Tell Hotel today?
Following a full restoration, the property operates as the William Tell Hotel, part of the MOD Collection by Sonesta, with modern rooms, event spaces, and Tell’s Tavern, the successor to the original William Tell Restaurant and Lounge.