Sumpter Bed & Breakfast ...
Sumpter Bed & Breakfast
Your Hosts: Barb and Jay Phillips
344 NE Columbia Street
PO Box 40
Sumpter, OR 97877
Phone: 541-894-0048
Toll free: 1-800-287-5234
E-mail: barbandjay@sumpterbb.com
The Sumpter Bed & Breakfast is a historic building in Sumpter that has been saved & restored, and is now proudly owned by Barb & Jay Phillips.
The Sumpter Bed & Breakfast has 6 graciously decorated bedrooms available. Full breakfasts are included with your stay at the Sumpter B & B (and they serve the BEST Huckleberry Pancakes you've ever had!).
Barb & Jay warmly invite you to stay with them at their "Hospital On the Hill" ... or drop by for a tour!
Visit Sumpter Bed & Breakfast's Web Site
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Read a bit of history about the "Hospital On the Hill"...
The Old Building Speaks By Alice Warnock, 1973
Lovingly dedicated to those who gave us the past, and to those who sustain us in the future."
"The wind rattles my windows. The wallpaper sags where the walls are settled to match the sagging of the foundation. Mice creep about in hide-a-ways. The bitter cold penetrates close to the huge wood heaters on winter nights. My front porch leans on two tamarack trees for support. My steps are crude and rough, adding to the impression to present passers-by that no one cares. I haven't had any renewal since 1954 when there was a grand celebration here to honor the Golden Anniversary of McEwen Lodge No. 125, A.F. and A.M. and Alpine Chapter No. 82, Order of the Eastern Star."
However, there is still a grandeur about me as I stand on a hill overlooking Sumpter. I am truly a landmark, the only public building still in use, surviving the disastrous fire of 1917, which burned the heart out of Sumpter. True, the railing is gone from the upstairs porch, but my proportions are good and I would look grand indeed if I were straightened, repaired, and painted. Inside, I have a beautiful stairway to the second floor. My fixtures and furnishings are antique. There is a certain "class" and graciousness in me. The floor in my spacious dining hall is smooth and tight enough for dancing and has known many gala "social enjoyments."
Memory ghosts linger and try to speak again: "more true Masonry has lived here than anywhere...", "hospitality and friendship is real and true in this place...", "don't ever change it, we love to come here."
Inflation, lack of time and interest are the excuses I am given when my needs are considered. Mainly, I need my foundation supported, new wall paneling, rest rooms and automatic heat. Conformation to building regulations make the cost of repairs and restoration prohibitive, I am told, so I will soon be replaced by an ordinary and adequate metal structure, efficiently heated and easy to maintain.
People and buildings get old. Some say I have had my day but let me tell you a bit about it. I wasn't always a Masonic temple. I started out as a hospital; l i s t e n....
From The Blue Mountain American (Sumpter newspaper, May 19, 1900)
"The Sumpter General Hospital, situated near the schoolhouse at the 'top' of Granite Street, will be opened in about 10 days, modern, and equipped with the latest appliances. The walls and floors will be antiseptic and the institution will be equipped with portable baths. The operating room will be the most complete of any in the State of Oregon. The latest Bell View hospital pattern of an operating table has been purchased. It will also have a covered and modern ambulance, accompanied by a surgeon. A house surgeon will be maintained day and night, and by the payment of a small monthly rate, miners will be permitted all the privileges of the institution."
Two years later, when the dream was a reality
(from The Blue Mountain American, May 24, 1902):
"None are better. Sumpter's Hospital Among the Most Efficient of the West. Sumpter has one of the best hospitals known to mining communities. Because of the modesty of the owners, Drs. Pearce and Anderson, little is heard of the thoroughness of work there. At present, twelve beds are in the hospital and there is room for twenty additional. The instruments in the surgery alone cost $1,000. Mrs. Pearce, matron of the hospital, is a trained nurse, graduated from Jefferson Hospital, Philadelphia. Dr. Anderson is a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, and has been practicing seven years and served a year and a half in the Army. Dr. Pearce is a graduate Of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and served as a House Surgeon."
Those actually employed in a mine are permitted to take out a hospital card for $1 a month, which entitles them to full benefits, given medical attention and all necessary care until well, without any further charges."
Sickness, death and healing were well known in this building in those days. Dr. John Higgins father, soon after his marriage, purchased an interest in the hospital and began practice with Dr. Pearce, November 1, 1907. On November 5, 1907, Dr. Higgins delivered a baby boy, Freddie, later, Worthy Patron of Alpine Chapter, then Mr. Mayor of Baker, and then later still, Baker City Manager.
Now I also became a home when the upstairs became the living quarters of the Higgins family. Dr. Higgins attached an outside stairway on the North side for fire safety and private access. Occasional credits to patients for bringing fire wood were listed in his journal.
After March, 1910, other Drs. were my owners. Meanwhile, during Sumpter's Boom days, a new Masonic Lodge started there, organized by 35 Masons, September 5, 1903, with Thomas McEwen as Worshipful Master. Prominent Masons of the State arrived on an excursion train from Baker, making 150 for a jubilant time in the stone building on a main street. An old hewn rock, bearing the Masonic emblem and "1903" rests awkwardly on the ground beside my shabby steps. The Lodge received its Charter in June, 1904.
I became a Masonic Temple after most of Sumpter's business district was destroyed by fire on August 13, 1917. Granite Street, made of wooden planks, burned, and with it, some of the fire hoses. The schoolhouse and I, side by side at the upper end of Granite Street, stood staunch and secure from the holocaust, saved from the fire which destroyed the first Masonic Hall. I was bought by McEwen Lodge in 1918 and have known the ups and downs of Masons and Stars for 55 years. The history of the Lodges parallels the rise and fall of Sumpter.
Alpine Charter was instituted on December 7, 1903, with Millie Bergman as Worthy Matron and D. L. Killen, Worthy Patron. Initiation fee was $3.00, dues $1.50 per year. Members were taxed fifty cents each to pay the hotel bill of $9.00 and a livery bill of $5.00, which were the expenses of the Worthy Matron, Helen Gatch and Worthy Patron, C. J. Wilgand, who officiated. The Chapter was chartered in July, 1904. by 1912, it had 93 members.. the meeting of each month was given to "social enjoyments", which were great in those early years and included banquets with oysters, turkeys, and ice cream, followed by dancing.
The decline of the Sumpter boom and the disastrous fire nearly put an end to the Masonry in Sumpter. Alpine Charter missed seven meetings after a page in the minute book state, " No meetings on account of Masonic Hall burning in the Great Sumpter Fire, August 13, 1917."
Then on December 12, 1917, the minutes state: "A communication was read from Grand Chapter stating that Alpine Chapter would have to reorganize or surrender its charter. On motion, moved and seconded and unanimous vote, cast to retain Alpine Chapter No. 82." After election, the new officers were installed by Ida B. Hawley, mother of Brooks Hawley. The matter of the loss of $40.65, burned in the fire, was dropped.
The influenza epidemic of 1918 cancelled the Chapter meetings of October 23 and November 8, and again in the spring.
My "people", as I remember then, felt the depression of the 1930's and many were suspended for non-payment of dues. When the town of Bandon, Oregon, and its Masonic Hall were destroyed by fire in 1936, Alpine Chapter, donated $5.00, leaving a balance of $17.00."
On February 13, 1942, Friday, there were 13 members present.
I echoed the laughter of the good ladies who were cleaning me in February, 1951, when Lenore Windle slid down my banister. Is that why it gaps a little at the top?
I grieved with those who met for a regular Star meeting on the same day President Kennedy was assassinated. "Saddened members joined in silent prayer. There was no further program", so record the minutes of November 22, 1963.
"I cherish my memories. I have served with honor in areas of healing, family life, and fraternal love. If now my days are ending, do not let me crumble slowly away, rejected and neglected, but rather let me be restored or destroyed so that I may either live with pride or die with dignity. Farewell.... "
