Quanah Parker Star House — Attraction in Oklahoma

UPDATE: I just learned the Star House is about to fall down. I am devastated Gipson will not allow restoration.NOW I read that 3 months ago the roof has become tarp covered & vandals had ransacked it. WHAT'S WRONG WITH GIPSON? He seemed to be an honest man but he is terribly bullheaded about losing ownership of it. Why can't someone make him an offer he can't refuse? He could sell that Trading Post or renovate it into a first class roadhouse! I am devastated the Star House continues to deteriorate! Gipson took me thru the house in 2014 & I have over 30 photos of the insides. NOW currently: roof is caving in ruining the furniture that was in fair condition. Doesn't the STATE of OK understand what a treasure they are losing? Teddy Roosevelt stayed at the STAR HOUSE & loved & respected Quanah Parker! The last free warrior chief of our history! I have been inside the Star House & all around it before it was in the pitiful condition it's in now. Gipson who now is its sole owner is very protective unless someone wants to restore it while he retains ownership. Folks willing to restore it want to move it & Gipson will not allow it to be moved again. Quanah's family does not own it any longer. Ft. Sill was firing artillery in its direction. They moved it so it wouldn't be destroyed but moved it to the side of a road & dumped it. They didn't hook up electricity nor plumbing. It sat on the side of the road for years. Quanah's descendants, mainly elderly females lived in it until they were told again that it had to be moved or it would be torn down. A non-native friend, Gipson's uncle, told the ladies he would buy it, move it but he was going to give them a place to stay in Cache. It sits in back of the Trading Post. You can't go in to see it any longer is what I heard. Luckily about 10 years ago, my friend Pam & I convinced the nephew, now the owner to let us see it. First we bought a ton of stuff in his store. We filled our tank w/gas & gave him money because he had to close his store. It was magical. He loosened up a bit after he saw we were compassionate about respecting the place. We got INSIDE; he took us thru all the rooms except the upstairs bc the stairs were not stable. The porches around the upstairs were falling; wood was rotting. He told us the history of how it got there. He told us about Quanah's life there and how he had the 5 stars painted on the roof for President Teddy Roosevelt. When Quanah went to Washington D. C. the prez set up his powwow in a 4 star hotel. When Roosevelt came to OK to designate the 1st US Wilderness Area , Quanah told him he would be staying in a 5 star house, better than the 4 star hotel in D.C. They were true friends & Roosevelt funded the Wilderness Area for eternity~a gorgeous area complete with buffalo & wildlife, west of Cache in the Quartz Mtns.Why can't some of the money made in the casinos be designated to help save Quanah's home? Is it because they did not respect Quanah because he was not 100% native? His mother was the famously abducted Cynthia Ann Parker who was taken from Fort Parker near Mexia, TX when she was 9 yrs old. Cynthia was mistreated at first but then she began to blend in with the tribe. Her blonde hair & blue eyes made her stand out but her skin became so tanned from the sun that she felt like a true Comanche. She fell in love with & married a Comanche warrior chief and had two children; Quanah and a girl, Periwinkle/Prairie Flower. Some say she had more children. Texas Rangers spotted Cynthia during a raid & took her & her baby to the grounds of a govt agency in north TX & asked her to return to her Parker family near Mexia. She refused. She wanted to go back to her tribe. The govt said no. She mourned and begged to be returned but they refused to allow her to go back. The stories say she mourned herself to death after her baby girl became very sick & died. Quanah, with the clear blue eyes of his mother, became the last free warrior chief in the USA. His mother is buried next to him near Ft. Sill. His Star House is a national...

Today 5/13/2023 we took a trip up to Medicine Park Oklahoma, we stopped at Cache to see Quanah Parkers Star home. Sadly the proprietor of this property has let this beautiful historic building fall into a state of disarray.. The building is listed in the oklahoma historic home registry.. But since it is on private land there's not much they can do to preserve it until the owner decides to let them renovate it.. In order to do that he has to relinquish control of the building which he is not ready to part with. We showed up early in the morning when we thought he was opened, he told us to come back at 2 PM and wait until all the customers who were eating at the diner were finished and then he would escort us to the property... So at two pm, we came back and we waited over one hour and twenty minutes for one diner to finish his meal. We had to make a donation to see the property... So after a short ride to the back of the property and several gates he escorted us to the home of the legendary Commanche Indian Chief Quanah Parker. We actually considered ourselves very lucky because not many people get to see this... So he told us a few stories of the property and how it came to be in his possession... I really wish this building could be preserved because there's so much wonderful history here and sadly. It has been taken over by time mother nature and vandals... He could very easily let the state turn it into a State run monument... But again he does not want to relinquish control... He has the desire to fix it up but does not have the money.... There was only one side of the home where we could see the original stars.. The rest of the house is truly falling apart, the roof is collapsing, doors and widows kicked in and busted. We were not allowed to go inside because it has been flooded and vandals have taken their toll and it's really falling apart badly... So we truly believe this may have been our only opportunity to see this house before it goes away forever... This is as it is today 5/13/2023 :( PRO TIP ...... WEAR PANTS ..... TICKS WERE VERY BAD ... I wore shorts and constantly pulled them...

Where to even begin? There is so much going on here, and most of it is just unfortunate to say the least. Is this worth your time to see it? Absolutely. But if it's on your wish list I'd recommend bumping it up because the house is not going to be around for very much longer unless something drastic happens to change the current trajectory, and that seems highly unlikely.

The house sits on private land, so as others have noted you need to coordinate with him to see it. He runs the Trading Post diner, which the house sits behind, so you'll likely have to visit after 2-3pm when the diner has closed. The owner's family (Uncle specifically) basically used to acquire historical homes, at the Star House was one of those. Among the other houses on the property are the first ever doctor's office in Cache, and the house of Frank James (brother of Outlaw Jesse James). All of the houses are in complete disrepair and falling apart, literally.

While I get the impression the owner wishes it were in better condition, that is 100% never going to happen from the sounds of it. There have been opportunities over the years from various parties who have shown interest in acquiring the house, but none have been successful. I get the impression the owner has a price in mind that likely isn't reasonable, but rather than take an offer which may not meet his expectations, the alternative is to simply let the house (and others) literally waste away and fall apart. Every window is broken, the roof is caving in, and there is ZERO protection from the elements. It's honestly a disgrace that a house of this historical significance could be left to rot away.

I truly hope something changes, but I doubt it will from what i heard, and time is definitely running out. I give it 10 more years, MAYBE. All it will take is a strong storm to roll through there and that place is gone. Sad. Glad I got to see it while it's around, but I left feeling gutted...like...