While the Ingalls were in Walnut Grove they suffered through two years of devastating grasshopper plagues. Therefore, they decided to travel to Burr Oak, Iowa, to help manage the Masters Hotel. The hotel was owned by their friend from Walnut Grove, William Steadman. The Ingalls lived in Burr Oak from 1876 – 1877 (there is some discrepancy: some sources say it was 1876-1878). Burr Oak is often referred to as the “missing link” in the Little House book series because Laura did not write a book about their time there.
The Masters Hotel is somewhat unique. It is the only childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder that is still standing, and it is on its original site. The Masters Hotel building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
There is a small museum/visitors center in the old Burr Oak Bank building located across the street from the hotel site. They offer guided tours only of the hotel for a very reasonable price. Don’t worry. The tour guides are VERY knowledgeable, answer all your questions, very kind, and somewhat “laid back” by not being in any rush (well, we were not there during their peak season, so that might make a difference).
Burr Oak is located along the banks of Silver Creek in the northeast corner of Iowa. It is only about 40 miles from Spring Valley, Minnesota, another place on the Ingalls Historic Highway. In fact, depending on where you’re coming from or where you’re staying, you could do both of these stops in one day if you got an early start. Just be sure to call ahead to make sure of the hours each museum is open.
The town of Burr Oak was founded in 1851 and was a major crossroads of the area. It was not unusual to have over 200 covered wagons pass through the town daily. It was exciting times in the town when the Ingalls arrived. The whole family lived in one room in the hotel and helped run it. Charles Ingalls even did carpentry work on the hotel.
When Charles thought he wasn’t being paid enough, he decided to move his family to a small house not far from the hotel. Charles found work doing odd jobs and farm work. In 1877 Grace Pearl Ingalls was born in Burr Oak.
Like I said, the tour guides had a wealth of knowledge about the Ingalls’ time here as well as the history of the town. I can’t even begin to remember half of the information they shared. I do remember one thing though. When we walked in the front door of the hotel where guests checked in, she told us that any of the square head nails in the floor boards were the original nails in original boards (some floor boards have been replaced). That means that Charles Ingalls could have driven some of those nails!
Here are some my pictures. Be sure to zoom in to read any information included in the picture.
This picture is of the room you first walk into where guests would register and pay. Following this photo is some photos of original floor boards in the room and the square nails that are original nails.
All of the rooms in the hotel were very small. Even though guest rooms only had one bed, there was usually three adults to a room. All three would sleep in one bed by sleeping across the bed with their legs off the bed and their feet usually resting on their luggage or travel bag or the floor.
NOTE: None of the furniture, furnishings, etc., in the hotel is originally from the hotel (unless noted by a sign placed on the piece). Most has been donated and is representative of what would have been there in the late 1800s – early 1900s.
The next several pictures are of the kitchen, dining room, and the room in which the Ingalls slept (ALL five of them!) in the basement of the building. There is also a “mud/tool room” through which travelers would enter to take off muddy boots, etc.
I also did not know that oxen wore shoes.
This is the room where the Ingalls slept – ALL five of them! (Note: Furnishings are NOT original. Furnishings are representative of that time period.)
There is a door on the left side of the mud/tool room to go outside to the backyard. There is a small garden planted with plants Ma might have been growing, Silver Creek runs through the backyard (it’s hard to see), a covered wagon, and the actual bell from the Congregational Church that the Ingalls attended and would have heard ring every Sunday. I didn’t ring this one; I let a man in our group ring it.
We visited several sites around the town: the site where the school the Ingalls children attended, the church site, and the site where the house in which Grace Ingalls was born. Plus we crossed a bridge over Silver Creek while exploring the town and found a little park.
This house with the brown roof sits on the site where the Ingalls girls attended school.
This house and surrounding area is the site on which the house Grace Ingalls was born in once stood.
Some photos of Silver Creek. Notice the building across the creek on the left. That is the back of the Masters Hotel. I can imagine Laura wading in the creek every chance she got.
The tour guide told us a lot of stories about the Ingalls during their time in Burr Oak; too many to remember. One of the stories that interested me was about Laura and her friend. They would frequently “hang out” together and play, however, they also like to go to the cemetery and walk around looking at the grave markers. I thought that was unusual, but they didn’t have television, radio, cell phones, or even very many board games to occupy their time after all their chores were finished. We went by the cemetery and looked at some of the headstones that would have been there when Laura and her friend were there. Who knows, maybe we stood in the exact spot where Laura once stood. The cemetery also has a famous, huge Burr Oak tree on the hill. It’s a beautiful tree and a lovely area to sit and ponder the things of life.
Now I only have two more stops on my Laura Ingalls Wilder journey. One is Vinton, Iowa, which is where the blind school was that Mary Ingalls attended from 1877 to 1889. We are in Iowa and I hope to stop by Vinton soon.
The other place I want to go is DeSmet, South Dakota. That is the final place the Ingalls family lived while Laura was growing up. It is also where she met her husband, Almanzo, and where several members of the family are buried. Our trip to DeSmet will probably have to wait until next summer as we are working our way back to Missouri for some family time. 😢
The last place Laura and Almanzo lived was Mansfield, Missouri. She was living there when she wrote the Little House books. Both Laura and Almanzo are buried there also. I have visited there once in the 1980s with my own children. After all of these visits along the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway, I will most definitely have to visit there again! I hear there has been a new museum built in Mansfield since I visited there in the 80s.
So, for now ….. “On the Road Again!”
Betty