Payne JailhouseBED & BREAKFAST

Payne Jailhouse

BED & BREAKFAST

Sleep at the old home of police chief Bill Payne, where the town's night jail is now the kitchen that makes your breakfast.

Call (816) 582-6798 Get directions Check availability

Phone hours 8 AM to 5 PM. Online booking is open any time.

426 Concourse Ave, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024, in the downtown historic district.
A barred jailhouse window in a brick arch, lit from inside, drawn after the window in the Payne Jailhouse logo

Four suites, two houses

The Warden's Suite is upstairs in the Big House, the chief's own home. The other three are in the Guest House behind it, built in 1945 for his police car.

Warden's Suite

Big House, second floor

  • Their premium room: extra large, with a king bed
  • Oversized leather recliner
  • Glass-walled shower with a seat
  • Microwave, free WiFi
From
$139 a night
Check dates for the Warden's Suite

Caribbean Room

Guest House, street level

  • King bed, sleeps two
  • Separate full bath with spa shower
  • Small fridge, microwave and Keurig
  • Table and chairs for breakfast in the room
From
$139 a night
Fri and Sat
$164 with breakfast
Check dates for the Caribbean Room

Pacific Room

Guest House, upstairs

  • Queen bed, separate full bath and shower
  • Shares a sitting area with the European Room: a restored 1940s sink, Keurig coffee bar, fridge and microwave
  • Reached by a flight of stairs
From
$114 a night
Fri and Sat
$154 with breakfast
Check dates for the Pacific Room

European Room

Guest House, upstairs

  • Queen bed, separate full bath and shower
  • Shares the upstairs sitting area and coffee bar with the Pacific Room
  • Reached by a flight of stairs
From
$114 a night
Fri and Sat
$154 with breakfast
Check dates for the European Room

Rates are as listed on the inn's booking pages and change with the season; your total, with 8.98% tax, shows before you confirm. Coming with a group? You can take the whole Guest House (three rooms) or the whole property (four bedrooms, five baths, a full kitchen, dining and living room). Call to ask.

Breakfast, and the rest of your stay

On Saturday and Sunday mornings there's a full, home-cooked breakfast in the dining room. Past guests single out the cinnamon rolls and the breakfast enchiladas. Weekday guests find breakfast items waiting in their room.

Before you leave, sign the dining room wall with everyone who stayed before you. There's a journal in each room, too, for a note to whoever comes next.

Evenings are for the fire pit out back, and for downtown: the Elms, the Hall of Waters, and the shops and tasting rooms are a short walk away.

  • Check in3 PM
  • Check out11 AM
  • BreakfastFull breakfast Saturday and Sunday; breakfast items in your room on weekdays
  • In the roomsFree WiFi and streaming TV; complimentary snacks and drinks
  • OutsidePatio with a fire pit
  • StairsThe Pacific and European rooms are up a flight of stairs; the Caribbean Room is at street level

The chief who brought the jail home

"They didn't have a jailhouse back then, so the logical thing to do was to build one and keep everyone safe while he slept at night." Mark and Anna Sue, innkeepers
  1. c. 1900

    The house begins as a one-story square brick building on Concourse Avenue.

  2. 1912

    Rebuilt as the two-story brick and wood house with the pyramid roof that stands today.

  3. 1926

    Bill Payne becomes Excelsior Springs' chief of police. In his first years he starts a Halloween party to keep the town's young people out of mischief.

  4. 1940

    The Paynes buy the house.

  5. Early 1940s

    Rather than sit up all night at the station, the chief builds a jail onto the back of his own home, so shackled prisoners can be held where he sleeps. That brick-walled jail room is now the kitchen.

  6. 1945

    He adds a garage for his 1945 Plymouth police car. It is now the Guest House.

  7. 1953

    Bill Payne's time as chief ends, after more than a quarter century.

  8. 2016

    After the empty house is damaged by fire, Mark and Anna Sue buy it, spend months gutting and restoring it, and open the Payne Jailhouse Bed & Breakfast, keeping the exposed brick and the mementos left in the house.

Want more of the stories? Mark has plenty. Ask at breakfast.

From the guest book

"The history of the place (an old jail, completely gutted and rehabbed as a B&B by the owners) made it all the more enjoyable. Highest recommendation!"

Scott Lamb, guest

"Mark and Anna Sue graciously and warmly welcomed us... The next morning we enjoyed a delicious home-made breakfast complete with a to-die-for cinnamon roll."

Amy W., guest

"The room was fantastic and super cozy... the pictures, although nice, certainly do not do this place justice."

Adam B., guest

Inside the jailhouse

Your own photos go here.

The jail kitchen's brick walls
Warden's Suite
The signed dining room wall
Fire pit at night

Walk to downtown

The inn sits in the downtown historic district, 30 to 45 minutes from Kansas City. Park once and walk to dinner, the spa or a tasting room.

For what's on this weekend, see Visit Excelsior Springs.

Book a night

Book a room online, or call Mark and Anna Sue to ask about dates, a whole-house stay, or anything else.

Call (816) 582-6798 Check availability Email Mark
Design preview — a proposed website for Payne Jailhouse Bed & Breakfast. Not their official site.