Master's Hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa

Only childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder standing in original location

The Ingalls family arrived in Burr Oak in 1876. Charles and Caroline had agreed to help run the Masters Hotel in town. Laura did not include her family's stay in Burr Oak in her Little House© books. She said the circumstances were just too sad to write about. Her little brother Freddie had died in infancy just prior to the Ingalls family's arrival in Burr Oak.  Although the circumstances of the Ingalls family arrival was oveshadowed by sadness, she did acknowledge the Ingalls family stay in Burr Oak in a piece for the Decorah, Iowa newspaper in 1947. In that article she described her life there and remembered Burr Oak as being a lovely place. One happy event did occur in Burr Oak though, baby sister Grace Pearl was born during the stay there. The Ingalls family remained in Burr Oak for almost two years before growing tired of the town. They then returned to Walnut Grove,  and the banks of Plum Creek, where they lived until 1879.

Willliam Anderson published a very good booklet on the Ingalls family's stay in Burr Oak. Entitled  "The Iowa Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder", Anderson's booklet is available from most of the LIW home site bookstores.

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