June 14, 2013–ELLINWOOD — His parents thought he was crazy, Chris McCord says matter-of-factly.

But there is no questioning the 26-year-old’s commitment as he walked across the wood floors of Ellinwood’s historic, 120-year-old Wolf Hotel, talking passionately about the building’s past and future, no matter how daunting the task might seem.

He gestures his vision as he leads a tour of the 5,000-square-foot structure built by wealthy entrepreneur John Wolf in 1894. It once was a resting place for cowboys and businessmen alike and, but it hasn’t seen much for overnight visitors for more than 40 years. The past 35 years it has been an antique shop, the hotel rooms converted to a home.

Ellinwood, population 2,100, in fact, hasn’t had much for accommodations since the Wolf closed in 1972. McCord’s goal is to bring the building back to its original use — turning the upstairs back into hotel rooms — complete with meeting space and breakfast area — by sometime next year. Eventually, he wants to reopen the restaurant and his longtime friend Kelli Penner, who also is instrumental in the restoration, plans to operate a photography studio in one of the basement rooms that has access to the town’s historic tunnel system.

It could be a breath of new life for an aging structure, which was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Moreover, for McCord, despite how overwhelming it might seem, he wants to be the one to do it.

“I’ve always liked this building,” he said. “I love the location. I love it being here in the downtown. I love its age and its charm. And I’m only the fourth owner.”

A man named Wolf

Ellinwood sits on what once was the Santa Fe Trail — a critical roadway that helped with western expansion. In the 1870s, crews of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad began placing track along the route of the former merchants’ trail. In 1872, Ellinwood was platted under the ownership of the railroad and a town company.

German immigrants began settling the area, including a man named John Wolf whose family helped shape the town — a man who began with nothing but ended up “immortalized in a town’s history,” according to the National Register nomination.

Wolf came to America at age 14 with a sea captain to do some sight-seeing with plans to return to Germany, according to the National Register nomination letter.

Wolf, however, never went home. He eventually married, moved his family to Ellinwood in the mid-1970s and purchased the town brewery. He operated the business until 1884 when Kansas state law abolished the manufacturing of liquors and spirits in the state.

Wolf, however, was innovative. He converted the brewery into a cold storage plant and became a wholesale dealer of liquors and spirits in Ellinwood and surrounding areas.

His business began to grow. He started an ice business using a large pond at his home, which, during the summer, was used by locals for fishing. In the winter, he would hire workers to cut ice from the pond and transport it to the cold storage facility, selling ice to anyone who wanted it.

Wolf began purchasing some business property and eventually acquired the lots where he constructed the National Hotel, using pressed red brick. The west part of the building was the bank, with the remainder operated as a hotel and dining room, with sleeping rooms upstairs.

By fall of 1894, the $10,000 hotel and bank were open for business, according to the nomination letter. The building also was home to several other businesses, many of which were in the basement and accessible through the city’s tunnels — an underground business district established when settlers first laid out the city.

Under the hotel were two saloons, a leather shop and a drummers’ room, which was a place that salesmen coming off the train could display the latest merchandise and wares for storeowners to purchase, said Ellinwood Mayor Frank Koelsch.

At one time, an Ellinwood men’s club met under the hotel, Koelsch said.

“It’s where the working men would close up their shop and go over there and vibe — have a few drinks, smoke cigars,” he said. “There was actually a shower, so they could take a shower before they went home.”

In 1896, Wolf sold the hotel. It eventually was renamed Hotel Wolf, or Wolf Hotel, which it remained for the duration of the business.

Meanwhile, The Bank of Ellinwood, which occupied to west end of the building, operated until Jan. 20, 1908 when the state shut it down and arrested the bank cashier. Two days later, a group of citizens, including John Wolf, gathered to pledge money to start a new bank. Peoples State Bank opened two months later.

Business pressed on into the 1920s, when Fred Wolf, the son of John who owned a mill in town, became the owner of the building and constructed a new dining room for the hotel, according to the nomination. He spared no expense, which included designs of sunflowers, wheat and terrazzo floors, as well as an outdoor patio — all of which are still in place today. Fred Wolf called it the Sunflower Dining Room, and it opened in 1924.

Fred Wolf died in 1939. The town park, complete with a historic bandstand, is named after the Wolf family.

Restoring the past

The once grand Wolf Hotel had seen better days when Bill Starr purchased it in 1975.

By the 1950s, the hotel’s boom was nearly over. The Peoples State Bank moved to a new building. Ellinwood Mayor Frank Koelsch said there were still a few business underground in the 1950s and 1960s, including the city library, which he frequented until it was moved to a new city/school facility sometime in the late 1960s.

The city offices then occupied the building through the early 1970s, Koelsch said.

Owners, however, came and went and, in 1972, the Wolf Hotel rented its last room, two years short of its 80th anniversary.

Starr was operating an antique shop in Lyons when one day he decided to purchase the rundown structure, which, at the time, only was occupied by city hall. He eventually moved his shop to the hotel’s main floor and began to restore the building, including turning the upstairs into a loft home.

“It was a wonderful interesting building, and it was charming,” he said of what caught his eye.

Starr and his partner, Jim Elliott, operated the antique shop for years. Elliott died five years ago and Starr decided he wanted a change.

“I lived in the hotel for 35 years, and I wanted to buy a house, to have a yard,” he said. “I’m 74 years old and it was just too big for me.”

McCord was visiting the shop around Thanksgiving when Starr mentioned he should buy it.

“I just laughed,” McCord said, adding he didn’t take it too seriously at first.

Yet, unlike many of his classmates at Ellinwood High School, McCord, who graduated in 2006, never left the Barton County community. He current works for Great Bend Regional Hospital in the medical records department and has a number of rental properties around Ellinwood.

He began to contemplate the suggestion and, within six months, McCord and Starr had struck up a deal.

As McCord walked from top to bottom of the old hotel on this summer day, he said he sees the past coming alive again. He and his friend, Kelli Penner, plan to clean up the main floor in time for an open house during Ellinwood’s After Harvest Festival July 18-20, then begin renting out the main floor for weddings and other events.

In the next year, they want to have the upper story ready for visitors. He and Penner would like to find sponsors for each room to help fund the renovations. They hope residents will also provide memorabilia about Ellinwood, as well as the hotel’s past, whether through stories, photographs or other items.

And someday, McCord said, he wants to open the restaurant again, as well as transform the old shop spaces once part of Ellinwood’s underworld.

In the 1980s, when Ellinwood began replacing its sidewalks, the city filled in most of the tunnel system with sand. Today, only a few section of tunnel remains — including a section across the street that is available to tourists.

McCord’s section of tunnels, however, has never been opened to public tours. The tunnels however, will be viewable as part of the tunnel tours during After Harvest Festival, he said, and hopes eventually to have them as part of tours on other occasions.

Koelsch said the restoration has been the talk of Ellinwood, with many old timers excited to see it turned back to its original use. Koelsch, in the real estate business, said he helped closed the deal.

“As the mayor and realtor while it was listed, I was hoping someone would turn it back into a hotel and dining area,” Koelsch said. “I think he is very energetic to jump in and try to get this done.

“It is one of Ellinwood’s truly hidden assets in my opinion.”

Starr, who loves the building and its history and did much of the restoration work when he first moved in, said he was happy to see someone like McCord, especially with the out migration of youth in some rural areas, work to revitalize the small Kansas community.

“I had a tear in my eye, and I was happy to see it go to Chris,” said Starr, who opened an antique shop in Lyons. “He’s a young man filled with vim and vigor and he has big plans.”

FYI

Ellinwood’s tunnels, including the tunnels under the Wolf Hotel, will be on tour during the town’s After Harvest Festival July 18-20. McCord said this would be the first time his portion of the tunnels will be part of the tunnel tour. He also plans to have an open house during the celebration.

Also McCord is searching out memorabilia centered on Ellinwood’s history, as well as the history of the hotel. If you have stories, photos or other relics, email him at ellinwoodwolfhotel@hotmail.com or visit the hotel’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/historicwolfhotel