Local couple acquires century-old Bourbon Hotel in Bourbon, Missouri

A local couple recently acquired the circa-1890 but long-vacant Bourbon Hotel, located only a block or two from old Route 66 in Bourbon, Missouri.

Justin and Lacey Whittaker (a Christian author) set up a Facebook page about the hotel at 237 E. Pine St.:

“We are going to do our best to bring y’all along with our journey in our efforts to save/restore the old Hotel Bourbon. We will share information and history as we are learning.”

An article earlier this month in the Sullivan Independent News reported about an existing city code that would affect the hotel, according to Alderwoman Sonya Sewald:

Sewald pointed out the city has a code that if the cost of the fix is more than 50 percent of the building’s value, it must be torn down.

“I can’t see us pushing to tear it down,” Sewald said, adding that the city needed to take a look at that code. “My response would be that we need to advocate to help.”

She said the buyer is seeking money to restore the building and it’s going to be costly. The tuck pointing alone will cost around $90,000.

Sewald said she contacted Bourbon Fire Marshal Tim Ware and had a productive conversation. Under existing law, repairing the hotel would mean passing fire code, which has been an ongoing topic of discussion for two years.

A perusal of online newspaper archives uncovered a few facts about the hotel:

Smoke inhalation from a fire killed a second-floor tenant in 1948. Six other occupants of the hotel escaped with ropes hanging from windows. A faulty chimney flue caused the blaze.

  • The hotel once was named the Wilmesherr Hotel, named after F.K. Wilmesherr, who partly owned a general store.
  • Wilmesherr’s son Sam died in a murder-suicide where he shot his wife, then turned the gun on himself, at the hotel in 1923. Reports were that Sam Wilmesherr became insane after suffering a second bout of the flu.
  • F.K. died of pneumonia two weeks after the murder-suicide. F.K’s wife, known as “Grandma” in the community, died in a one-car accident five years later near Carthage, Missouri, where her daughter was driving and lost control of the vehicle.
  • An 1899 article proclaimed the hotel “one of the best along the Frisco” railroad line.
  • Legends of America reported the hotel was used as a hostel, then closed in the late 20th century.

(Image of the Bourbon Hotel in Bourbon, Missouri, by Michael R. Allen via Preservation Research Office)

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