Council Grove · Flint Hills: Council Grove
Cottage House Hotel
A c. 1867 cottage inside an 1871–72 brick house, enlarged in 1898; book the main building, 26 rooms by the hotel's count.
- Built
- c. 1867–98c.1867 three-room cottage, enclosed by an 1871–72 Italianate house; a 5,000-square-foot Queen Anne addition followed in 1898, with further work in 1908 and 1910–14. Boarding house, then hotel.
- Style
- Italianate and Queen Anne
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 38
- Area
- Flint Hills: Council Grove
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
The hotel began as a three-room cottage of about 1867, which was absorbed into a two-story brick Italianate house in 1871–72. Banker Lewis Mead and his first wife, Sarah Marks Mead, bought the property in 1879. After Sarah died in 1886, Lewis married her sister Josephine, who enlarged and promoted the hotel. The 1898 Queen Anne addition added a square roof tower, and Josephine ran the hotel until her death in 1932. It was leased to the government during World War II.
Good to know
- Address: 25 N. Neosho Street, Council Grove, KS 66846
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.