Council Grove, Kansas · Founded 1857 · Building: circa 1857
An 1857 Council Grove landmark on the Santa Fe Trail, restored after fire and reopened under new ownership in 2020.
Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern occupies a frame building that Seth Hays erected about 1857 on what is now Main Street in Council Grove. The building served Santa Fe Trail travelers and local civic life as a trading post, dining stop, lodging house, post office, courthouse, printing office, and social space. It remains an operating restaurant, though its late-2019 closure and June 2020 reopening mean its restaurant operation cannot accurately be called unbroken since 1857.
Seth Hays came to Council Grove to trade with the Kaw (Kansa) people and established a log store on the site.
Source: National Park Service, "Hays House (Restaurant)"
About 1857, Hays replaced the log store with the two-story frame building that now houses Hays House; it served as a trading post, gathering place, courthouse, post office, printing office, and a place offering meals and rooms.
Source: National Park Service, "Hays House (Restaurant)"
The Kansas Press described Charles A. Gilkey of the "Hayes House" as an accommodating host for travelers stopping in Council Grove on the Santa Fe Road.
Source: The Kansas Press, 1859, quoted by the National Park Service, "Hays House (Restaurant)"
A fire destroyed several buildings on the north side of Main Street, but local residents saved Hays House; its damaged gabled roof was later replaced with a flat roof.
Source: National Park Service, "Hays House 1857"; Kansas Sampler Foundation, "Hays House 1857 Restaurant & Tavern"
A fire destroyed the kitchen addition. About 25 local residents formed Flint Hills Investors to acquire, restore, and reopen the restaurant.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, "Hays House Restaurant and Tavern in Council Grove, Kansas," December 17, 2015; KansasTravel.org, "Hays House Restaurant"
Hays House reopened after repairs following the 2011 kitchen fire.
Source: KansasTravel.org, "Hays House Restaurant"
Flint Hills Investors closed Hays House.
Source: KansasTravel.org, "Hays House Restaurant"
Frankie Greco and Chef Randall Dickson reopened Hays House after the late-2019 closure.
Source: KansasTravel.org, "Hays House Restaurant"; Emporia Gazette, "Hays House re-opening pending," March 21, 2020
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The National Park Service identifies Seth Hays as Daniel Boone's great-grandson. That relationship is a historical fact about Hays, not proof of every story associated with the restaurant.
The National Park Service states that Seth Hays replaced his 1847 log store with the existing frame building about 1857. The building's age is distinct from a claim of uninterrupted restaurant operation.
Hays House and some tourism sources make this claim, and the National Park Service says the site "lays claim" to it. But KansasTravel.org reports that Hays House closed in December 2019 and reopened in June 2020 under new owners; that documented interruption defeats a literal claim of continuous restaurant operation from 1857 to the present.
This story is repeated in regional lore, but no contemporary ledger, newspaper account, military record, or other primary source establishing either man's presence at this specific tavern was verified for this entry.
The National Park Service and Kansas Sampler Foundation say that local residents saved Hays House when the 1886 fire struck Main Street. The reviewed sources do not independently establish the precise bucket-brigade details, so the broader rescue account is retained without embellishment.
The Seth Hays House, Hays's private residence, is the building occupied by Hays House restaurant.
Hays House restaurant occupies Seth Hays's circa-1857 commercial frame building on West Main Street. His later private residence is a separate historic property and should not be treated as the restaurant building.
Source: National Park Service, "Hays House (Restaurant)"
Hays House has operated continuously as a restaurant since 1857.
The site has a long hospitality history dating to about 1857, but KansasTravel.org reports that the restaurant closed in December 2019 and reopened in June 2020 under new owners. A literal uninterrupted-operation claim is therefore inaccurate.
Source: KansasTravel.org, "Hays House Restaurant"; National Park Service, "Hays House (Restaurant)"
Hays House outlasted the Santa Fe Trail era because the building mattered to Council Grove as more than a dining room. Its early mix of trading, lodging, mail, court, printing, and gathering-space functions rooted it in the town's civic life; after a kitchen fire in 2011, approximately 25 local residents formed Flint Hills Investors to restore and reopen it. When that ownership group closed the restaurant in late 2019, new owners reopened it in 2020, extending the site’s historic hospitality role without obscuring the interruption.
Hays House occupies a frame building Seth Hays erected in Council Grove about 1857. The National Park Service says the site served Santa Fe Trail travelers and the town as a trading post, place for meals and rooms, courthouse, post office, printing office, and social hall. After a 2011 kitchen fire, local investors restored and reopened it in 2012; it later closed in December 2019 and reopened under new owners in June 2020.
Hays House is widely promoted as Kansas's oldest restaurant and as the oldest restaurant west of the Mississippi River, based on its 1857 building and hospitality history. It should not, however, be described as continuously operating as a restaurant since 1857, because reporting documents a closure beginning in December 2019 before a June 2020 reopening. A full Kansas comparison of restaurant claimants has not been completed in this register.
Yes. KansasTravel.org reports that Flint Hills Investors closed Hays House in December 2019, and that Frankie Greco and Chef Randall Dickson reopened the restaurant in June 2020. That closure is important when evaluating claims that Hays House has operated without interruption since 1857.
Yes, historical summaries from the National Park Service and Kansas Sampler Foundation say local residents saved Hays House when an 1886 fire destroyed several nearby Main Street buildings. The building survived, although its roof was later changed from a gabled form to a flat roof.
112 W Main St, Council Grove, KS 66846
(620) 767-5911
The restaurant stands at the Main Street and Neosho Street intersection on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail route.