When Neosho Rapids resident Virgil Wamser saw the picture of the old Oliver Phillips Inn — located near Reading Lake — in the Emporia Gazette, he wanted to tell the rest of the story.
Wamser, who is the great-grandson of Oliver Phillips, who ran the inn near Reading Lake, saw the picture in the Gazette, which went with an article on a Lyon County documentary that was being shown at the Granada Theatre. The documentary, “A History of Lyon County,” takes viewers back in time from 1856 to about 1880, said researcher and writer, Janice Huston.
Wamser shared his story about the Oliver Phillips Inn, which was in operation during the 1800s. The homestead was built around 1957. Wamser said the inn was run by Oliver Phillips, his wife, Calista, and his children. Among the children was Pearl Wamser who was Virgil Wamser’s grandmother, Wamser said.
“Before Emporia was there, the inn was there,” Wamser said. “It was a relay station for stage coaches. ...”
There at the inn, which still stands today off of Burlingame Road near Reading Lake, travelers passing through could get a bite to eat and even a place to stay if they wished, Wamser said. There used to be a 30-horse barn on the site as well.
“He fed people and people did stay overnight,” Wamser said. “Pearl and Maude ran it.”
Wamser said Phillips was a surveyor by trade and he remembers hearing his family talk about Phillips going to survey the future town of Emporia.
Susan Kuhn, a teacher at Admire School, also is a descendant of Phillips, his great-great granddaughter. Kuhn remembers family stories of the inn including the time when Phillips’ wife, Calista, got tired of the Indians stopping by — a story that Wamser remembers as well. Wamser said the Indians would take food from the home — but they wouldn’t if they thought somebody in the home was ill.
“She put a head-scarf over their heads and said, ‘We have small pox,’” Kuhn said. “They skedaddled after that one.”
The presence of black snakes in the old stone house also was a story that Kuhn heard often in family conversations.
Kuhn added that a second structure also used to stand near the inn.
“I think there used to be a house near it,” she said. “They used to call it the ‘honeymoon house.’ Whoever was the last married couple used to live in it.”
The Oliver Phillips homestead is now owned by the Sielerts.
Sue Sielert said they purchased the property around 1992. She has her own stories about the land.
“First he had a log cabin there and then he built the stone house,” Sielert said of Phillips.
Sielert said an addition was built onto the home later that became the inn portion.
“That was added and it was a two-story, six-room addition,” she said. “That had a lot of sandstone in it. It was not as structurally sound as the original limestone section.”
Sielert said Phillips is the reason why Burlingame Road goes out by Reading Lake.
“He laid it out from his house on into town,” she said. “He surveyed the town and then went onto Burlingame and it was also known as the Lawrence-Emporia Road at some point.”
Sielert said the area that Phillips settled in was a good staging point for settlers.
“They kinda staged up in Burlingame and that was a good day trip to go look for land,” she said. “He plotted that out and had a convenient location for his inn.”
steakbuffet (anonymous) says...
I believe I remember Mrs. Sielert telling our church group at a gathering one spooky, October evening, about the small pox. Calista (?) appeared at an upstairs window with iodine spots on her face. I would say no words were needed to convey the message. More than likely there was a language barrier between the settlers and the Osage Indian tribe. It could of been possible to also had some New York Indian tribe members who'd strayed a county or two to the north. Whatever the case, it was a wonderful evening on the site with stories around the campfire.
May 9, 2010 at 2:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )