Beaumont ? Three things make Steve Craig happy flying his plane, the Flint Hills and running his chain of premium hotels.

Craig, president and CEO of Lawrence-based Linquist & Craig Hotels and Resorts, last year found a way to merge all three when he bought the historic Beaumont Hotel in the middle of the rolling landscape of prairie grasses that’s a prime spot for cattle grazing.

Waitress Judy Klegmann, left, talks to customers Gary Montgomery, center, and Holmer Holmes at the Beaumont Hotel cafe in Beaumont. The hotel, which features a landing strip for fly-in customers, has recently been reopened by a Lawrence hotel company.

Built in 1879, the hotel is one of the few places where pilots can taxi their small planes to Main Street and park within a few short steps of the front porch.

“I would say there are a number of places where you land a plane and walk or drive but I’m not aware of any place like this,” said Craig, a pilot since 1968

Craig, 55, said the Flint Hills always has been “one of my favorite parts of Kansas. It’s the wide open vistas and the tall grass prairie…the fresh air, breezes, solitude and the quiet.”

For 29 years, Craig has been in the hotel business and his company now operates six upscale hotels with nearly 1,500 rooms in California, Kansas and Alabama.

Last year, Craig became the eighth owner of the Beaumont Hotel, which had been shuttered and in need of repair, plus 70 acres that mainly included the 2,400-foot grassy landing strip.

For Craig, it wasn’t totally a business decision.

“I think part of it was taking a small piece of something and saving it. Mostly, I saw an opportunity,” Craig said. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I could have a little fun with it.”

First a stagecoach stop, the hotel gained fame as a gathering spot for cattle barons and railroad tycoons. Nearby is the 1885 Frisco Water Tower, thought to be the last wooden water tower in the United States.

Things changed over the years. A century ago, this town 45 miles east of Wichita had about 1,500 residents and thriving businesses. It was where cattle were shipped east by train.

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Now the tracks are gone and there may be 80 residents. The hotel is the town’s only business, except for an antique shop with sporadic hours in the old bank building.

In 1953, the hotel owner added the airstrip about 300 yards away to make it easier for ranchers and buyers to get together. In time, it became a favorite stopping spot for private pilots.

Pilots taxi their aircraft from the field to a two-lane blacktop road, past a sign, “Please Observe Traffic Signs.” They head toward Main Street to park at the front or side of the hotel.

Pete Ferrell, whose family homesteaded the area in 1888, remembers the hotel’s glory days and the coming of the planes.

“Not all the people were pleased with sharing the streets with the airplanes. But we got used to it and we didn’t think anything about it,” Ferrell said.

After Craig finished with months of restoration, the hotel had five suites and six guest rooms, each with a few unique touches beyond what’s found in a typical hotel room.

For instance, each room has a boot jack and guests find homemade cookies on their pillows in the evening. Each room is decorated with photographs of famous aviators and aircraft.

“This is a niche market if ever there was one, offering small luxury,” he said. “It isn’t for everyone, but a lot of people would find it interesting.”

The lobby is filled with western decor, including the hotel’s name and a longhorn steerhead fashioned from barbed wire in a framed display. The telephone booth still has its hammered tin interior.

The cafe has much of its 1950s look with the counter and stools accented with chrome. Photographs and posters of motorcycles and airplanes cover the walls. On one wall is a photograph of Craig sitting in the cockpit of his airplane.

Craig said on a good-weather weekend, there might be a couple dozen airplanes around the hotel.

“Whether you are a pilot or not, people like to watch airplanes,” he said. “People just seem to enjoy it.”