Ogallala’s Mansion On The Hill
The Mansion On The Hill is owned and maintained by the Keith County Historical Society, a non-profit corporation that purchased the house from Arthur W. Campbell in January of 1966 to use as a museum and memorial to pioneer families. The subsequent restoration of the structure and landscaping of the surrounding area were made possible by the work and contributions of many local citizens and a fifteen thousand dollar grant from Mrs. Clarice Goodall of Ogallala.
The house, built of brick from the local brick factory, had walls sixteen inches thick and was trimmed with stone cut and imported from Lincoln. Woodwork within the house, including the central staircase, was of carved cherry wood. The fireplaces were finished with hand painted tiles from New Jersey. It was Ogallala’s finest home when it was completed in September of 1887.
Brandhoefer did not live in the house long. In 1888 he sold it to H.L. McWilliams, the proprietor of the Keith County Bank, built on the corner of Spruce and First Street in 1886. The McWilliams family moved into the house at once, and Mrs. McWilliams entertained there a great deal. Her parties were often written up in the local newspapers.
Brandhoefer married Miss Mary Watts in May of 1889, and both were frequent guests at the McWilliams mansion.
The house had nine spacious rooms and two baths. It has ten foot ceilings and deep narrow windows with walnut shutters designed for interior use. The hardware throughout the house is solid brass with scroll designs on the plates, door knobs and hinges. All rooms have carved corner blocks and panel inserts on the door and window frames.
The first floor rooms include a large parlor with bay windows on the east side of the house. The parlor ceiling has coved 16 inch molding made of plaster in 4 ft. lengths. The library, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, hall and bath complete the first floor. Three large bedrooms and another bath were located on the second floor. The bathroom was changed some years back to a nursery.
A single room on the third floor has two dormer windows and was probably used as a maid’s bedroom when the McWilliams lived here. It is presently used for displaying photographs.
A wide variety of furnishings of the period have been collected by the Historical Society, and the past year a complete restoration of the kitchen was completed. The mansion was the home of Ogallala’s mayor just before World War I, and in 1918 it was used as a hospital. For a while in the "Twenties" it was an apartment house.
Boot Hill
Located down West Tenth Street from Mansion On The Hill is Boot Hill, Ogallala’s original cemetery, dating from its early Texas Trail days, possibly as far back as the Oregon Trail times.
There are few records that have come down to present times of the burials there. Indeed, few records were kept during the time of its use. Ogallala’s present cemetery at the end of West 5th street has been in use since at least 1885.
Some graves were moved from Boot Hill to the West Fifth Cemetery
during the 1890’s. Markers and headstones that once existed deteriorated and
disintegrated over the years until no graves marked exactly in the present day.
One grave known to be somewhere on Boot hill is that of Tom Lonergan, one of
Ogallala’s founders. He was killed while on round-up with John Bratt’s
cowboys in the late 1870’s. He was a Civil War veteran, and an 1891 Keith
County News story tells of an annual Memorial Day pilgrimage to decorate his
grave by the G.A.R. veterans organization at the "old cemetery," i.e.
Boot Hill.
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