Did you know that Maple Hill was home to the largest hotel in Wabaunsee County at one time? When the town was founded in 1887, William Baldwin “Jersey” Small built a 35-room hotel that also had large “parlors” and commercial rooms on the first floor where the communities social events were held and traveling salesmen showed their wears to merchants.

The hotel sat at the southwest corner of Fourth and Main Street. It had a coal furnace and steam heat, gas lights, and “bathrooms” which were literally rooms with bath tubs and hot and cold running water. The hot water was heated by kerosene boilers. The hotel had a “modern” kitchen and served meals to guests in the dining room and also catered food for the social affairs that were held in its first floor rooms. It was by far the largest building in Maple HIll.

William Baldwin Small and his wife Adeline “Addie” Warner Small moved to Maple Hill from Will, Wilmington County, Illinois. The Small family is first found on the 1880 US Census and were living on a farm south of Maple Hill, with the Knapps, Johnsons, and others for neighbors.

William Baldwin Small was born on February 24, 1852 in Ohio and died on November 11, 1919 at Maple Hill. He is buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery. I have not been able to find a headstone or burial location for his wife Adeline “Addie” (Warner) Small.

William B. Small was the son of Daniel and Sophronia (Hall) Small, who developed several farms in Ohio and became quite wealthy for the time. They sold their farms in Ohio and moved the family to Wilmington, Will County, Illinois where the 1870 US Census lists him as a “capitalist and money loaner.” On that same census, he was listed as owning $18,000 in real estate and $15,500 in personal property, a considerable fortune. He increased that fortune in future years.

Daniel Smalls first wife Sophronia died in the 1850s and he remarried Rebecca Cole. Shortly after their marriage, he sold the Ohio farms and moved to Illinois. He and Sophronia had four children: Danial J., Eli Delevan; John D; and William Baldwin. He and Rebecca had one child Susan Small.

William Baldwin Small married his wife, Adeline “Addie” Small in Illinois and moved to Kansas, settling in Maple Hill Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas. He would have been about 30 years old and could have made some money on his own, but it is likely that he borrowed money from his father both to purchase the farm and to build the Windler Hotel.

I have tried to find why he chose the name Windler Hotel, but I have not been able to find anything. I have not found article in which W. B. Small states why he decided to build a hotel. I can find no family member who previously owned or operated a hotel, but he must have found the development of a new town worthy of such an extravagant venture.

No doubt such an enterprise was extremely helpful to Russell Taylor Updegraff, who was the owner of one of Maple Hill’s early lumber yards. Building The Windler must have required many boxcar loads of lumber. I have not been able to find any indication that the lumber was furnished by local steam mills in the area. Usually there were mentions in Wabaunsee County newspapers if an order that size had been placed.

My paternal grandmother, Mable (Jones) Clark and her husband James Peter Clark lived in the Windler Hotel for a few weeks in 1914. The telephone company was remodeling the Maple Hill Central office, adding a room, and it was not ready for them so they lived at the WIndler. Grandmother said that it had seen its best years (it was torn down two years later) but that it was a very comfortable place. They lived there during April and May, and she said that the furnace was working well. She said the kitchen was no longer serving meals so she cooked on a little kerosene stove. They had two adjoining rooms so she had a bedroom and a kitchen/sitting room. She said the “bathrooms” were in working order but that they used chamber pots. She remembered that there were usually social activities (club meetings, dances, etc.) in the hotel during the week as well as on weekends. She also remembered that the “drummers” as traveling salesmen were called in those days, were very busy in the big display rooms on either side of the entry, putting out their samples from big suitcases and steamer trunks.

William Baldwin Small and wife Addie, had four children. Adeline “Addie” was their oldest and was born in 1874. Daniel Byron Small was born in 1877. William W. Small in 1882 and Kendall Small in 1885. The older two children were born in Will County, Illlinois and the younger two on the farm near Maple Hill.

I doubt that after the first five years, the Windler Hotel ever made money. It seemed to go from one manager to the other and gradually fell into a state of decline.

Russell Taylor Updegraff was also from a wealthy Quaker family in Ohio. His father, grandfather and great grandfather had all owned prosperous farms at Mt. Pleasant, Ohio. His father, Rev. David Brainard Updegraff, became the Quaker pastor of Stone Creek Meeting House and is buried in that cemetery. All of his male children attended and graduated from the Quaker college, Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Russel T. Updegraff had just graduated from Earlham before coming to Maple Hill. As with W. B. Small, Russel Updegraff’s father likely supplied the capital for him to engage in the Maple Hill Lumberyard, The Maple Hill State Bank, and the Maple Hill Merchantile Company.

Russel Taylor Updegraff married Adeline “Addie” Small, eldest daughter of William B. and Adeline (Warner) Small. I’m going to bring this article to a close at this point, but I will share with you additional information about the Small and Updegraff Families. They were important in the successful development of the Maple Hill Community.