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GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS  |  2020 – 2021 57 In the mid-19th century, local settler William Mills was so active in routing the railroad through town, encour - aging Antioch College to site here and laying out the village, that he was later dubbed “the Yellow Springs man.” Mills Lawn, where his his - toric house was situated, was named after him. And so was the hotel that the local Ham- mond family — Jim and Libby Hammond, and their daughter, Katie — built near the school a few years ago. Yellow Springs’ downtown hotel, Mills Park Hotel, opened in 2016, with 28 guest rooms, a banquet hall, Ellie’s Res - taurant and the Little Miami Mercantile gift shop. The three-story building, designed by local architect Ted Donnell, was even made to look like the historic Mills home, with its black slate mansard roof and white wood siding. It also incorporated Southern colonial architecture from the late 1800s, the Hammonds told the News. And drawing on the South- ern theme, Katie Hammond created a restaurant and bakery at the hotel that fea - tures what she called “upscale Southern comfort food,” with dishes like chicken and waffles and shrimp and grits. Ellie’s was named after Hammond’s red and white Corgi. Bringing the hotel to life was a community affair. The lamps were made by local sculptor Naysan McIlhargey. The front porch’s rocking chairs were custom made by Stacy Kenny Custom Designs. Lake Miller has multiple photographs in every room, and other local artists have contributed paintings to adorn the walls. Local builder Tommaso Gregor completed the more intricate woodwork in the hotel, which used some of the trees cut down at the site. And Todd SPOTLIGHT | Mills Park Hotel for much of 2020, by the late summer it was opening its porch on the weekends for cocktails and tapas. Guests, meanwhile, were starting to return, albeit slowly. Despite the setback, the Hammonds remain optimistic about the continued draw of their boutique hotel in the lively town of Yellow Springs. —YS News staff PHOTO: REILLY DIXON The Mills Park Hotel, above, was designed to look like the historic Mills House, formerly across the street and originally built by the town founder in the mid-19th century. Significantly remodeled in 1870, the old Mills House, below, was razed in 1966; the new Mills Park Hotel rose in 2016. PHOTO: ANTIOCHIANA, ANTIOCH COLLEGE PHOTO: DYLAN TAYLOR-LEHMAN Jim and Libby Hammond, and their daughter, Katie, left. after Jim Hammond restored the historic Grinnell Mill and helped manage it as a bed and breakfast. Seeing how popular it was, he decided to try a new venture, this time in the heart of downtown. “The main draw is the proximity to town,” Hammond told the News. “To be able to get to all these places and not have to get back in your car — people will have a blast.” The hotel was honored with several awards from the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association in recent years, including Leadership Team of the Year and Unique Lodging of Ohio Property of the Year. Although the COVID-19 pandemic forced its restau - rant to shutter to non-guests Van Lehn used reclaimed ash from the property to make the restaurant’s tabletops. The idea for the hotel came J E W E L R Y CLOTH ING ART S AND C R A F T S 220 XENIA AVENUE K I NGS YARD 9 3 7 - 767- 1 918 WWW.TIBET-BAZAAR.COM f rom T I B E T N E PA L a n d I N D I A