Beaumont Hotel Established 1879

On a recent trip to Wichita my wife and I spotted a sign along the highway that read "Historic Beaumont Hotel-->", we are suckers for a chance to get out to walk and explore, so we did. We drove maybe a mile off the highway to a very small town, even small for a prairie town.

As we came through the array of small older homes hunkered down from the prairie winds in groves of cottonwoods and Chinese elm trees we came upon the hotel. Motorcycles and a sign that promised "Cold Beer" piqued my interest. So we parked and headed in to have lunch. As we crossed the street my wife stopped and said 'what in the world.." I looked don the other paved road in town and saw a plane coming toward us.

The plane drove along and eventually stopped at the stop sign.

I watched the pilot look very carefully both ways and the proceed.

He drove over to where I was parked and parked his plane beside my car. Apparently people do this all the time here, they fly in eat lunch, sometimes stay the night and take off. Pilots land on the native grass airstrip, taxi down the paved road and park.

While we ate another plane and a helicopter landed and parked over by my car. Groups of motorcyclists arrived as well.

The hotel was built in 1879 during the cattle drives to the Flint Hills. The tiny town is also home to the oldest historic wooden water tower in the country. The hotel and cafe were filled with photography and vintage plane advertisements, the food was excellent and the people could not have been friendlier. See what exploring gets you.