Burr Oak Iowa

The Ingalls family moved from their home in Walnut Grove, and headed for Burr Oak Iowa. Here they lived from 1876 - 1877. Pa was persuaded to move to Burr Oak by William and Maggie Steadman. Pa, Ma, and the girls were going to help the Steadman's run a new hotel that they were buying. This hotel was known as the Masters Hotel. The Ingalls stayed in one room in the basement of the hotel.One of Laura's jobs at the hotel was to clean the bedpans of the guests rooms every morning.

Burr Oak was a bustling town compared to the other places the Ingalls lived. On an average day 200 pioneer wagons would travel through Burr Oak. Somethimes there were as many as 300. At night the hotels, houses, and yards of Burr Oak would fill up with travels spending the night before heading out for another long day of traveling.

After Pa and Ma decided to leave the hotel, they rented rooms over Kimball's Grocery where they spend the rest of the winter of 1877. However, this location turned out to be too close to the saloon, which was located right next door. One night the saloon caught fire. Shortly after that Pa and Ma decided that they needed to move again. This time they moved to a red-brick house on the outskirts of town. It was here that Ma gave birth to a baby girl on May 23, 1877. They named Grace Pearl.

In the autumn of 1877, the Ingalls family was once again packed up and moving again. This time they were headed back to Walnut Grove Minnesota.