Hello and Welcome to Rosalea's Hotel Blog from Rosalea Herself!It was a crazy, wild time of unrest in America when Rosalea's Hotel opened in 1968. I returned from a three-year tenure in New York City as a studio artist, to purchase the historic building in downtown Harper, KS for only $1,500, filled with antiques. It was my dream-come-true. The rest is history: a nightmare of the worst kind.
An aging reporter, apparently wanting his last thrill, authored a front page article for the Wichita Eagle, implying that I was a drug-using hippie who had come to turn on my home town. Of course, it wasn't true at all -- I was never into drugs -- I was simply a creative artist who wanted to save history and help save my hometown. And I was nonjudgmental and open minded, unheard of in this closed community of farmers and conservative Mennonites. Today, I'd sue the hell out of him for ruining my life in this community, but by the time I got past my Mennonite stigma to never file a lawsuit, he was dead.
Pump a bunch of ignorant, naive rednecks full of misinformation like that article insinuated, and they go berserk. They shot at me, tried to run me out of town, and on and on and on. To this day, I am still; the target of their rampant ignorance, passed from generation to generation. Fortunately, I' ve been able to actually make a silk purse out of a sow's ear by recording decades of their lives and their rantings for Balmer Collections, now in Special Collections, Pittsburg, KS. Future researchers will have a hey day!
Now you, too, can become a part of the archived Publish history of Rosalea's Hotel by sharing your memories on rosaleashotel.blogspot.com. Unless you indicate otherwise, some postings may appear in the Prairie Connection. (We'd like your real name for the archives, but do not need to publish it so you are free to "tell all". You may mail your real name and submit your submissions via e-mail iread@prairieconnect.com or rosalea@prairieconnect.com
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing your story of your success!
I was quite young when you bought the place in Harper, I was just out of 6th grade.
I can remember it being a "big deal" in town, but I had no idea why.
One day my parents wanted to see it, I seem to remember it was a work in progress, work was being done all over the building. Of course that was so many years ago the memory has faded. But the vivid memory was of a room on the first floor where a blacklight was on and many da-glo posters on the wall.
I had to have one of my own and pestered my parents for one until the relented.
The place had a somewhat scandalous reputation and it was rumored that all the custom cutters liked to stay there so they could "have parties".
Harper was a very small town and the words of a few could do a lot of damage. I suppose that it is still that way too.
I sometimes wonder if the hotel was still in operation.
eh. interesting ))
The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.
Thanks
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