HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A c.1900 Salamanca railroad hotel, once the Wildwood House, now a chestnut-paneled steakhouse and six-room inn named among the city's haunted-history stops.
460 Wildwood Avenue, Salamanca, NY 14779
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Steakhouse dining and overnight rooms; see the venue site for current room rates and hours.
Access
Limited Access
Historic two-story building; guest rooms are on the second floor
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1900 · c.1900 Salamanca Railroad Hotel · Formerly the Wildwood House · American Wormy Chestnut Interior · Continuous Operation Over a Century
Salamanca grew as a railroad city, and the building at 460 Wildwood Avenue reflects that history. Established around 1900 as the Wildwood House, it functioned as a railroad hotel, providing accommodations and meals for railroad workers waiting for their next assignment on the lines that ran through Cattaraugus County.
The property has stayed in continuous use across more than a century, passing through a series of owners. Among the longest tenures was that of Ted Barczack, who ran the building from 1945 to 1994. Later proprietors continued operating it as a restaurant and inn.
The interior is notable for being lined with American wormy chestnut, a wood that became scarce after the chestnut blight wiped out the species across the eastern United States in the early twentieth century, making the paneling a period feature that is difficult to reproduce today.
Under current ownership the building operates as Myers Steakhouse & Inn, with first-floor dining rooms and the White Tail Tavern and six guest rooms on the second floor, each with a private bath and period furnishings. The venue is included among the haunted-history sites cited in local coverage of Salamanca's older buildings.
Sources
When the Salamanca Free Press surveyed the city's haunted historical sites, the former Wildwood House — now Myers Steakhouse & Inn — was among the older hotel buildings included in the coverage of Salamanca's railroad-era structures. The reputation is the kind that gathers around a building that has housed travelers continuously for more than a century: a hotel-and-tavern reputation for a presence felt by overnight guests and staff.
The venue's own history emphasizes its railroad-hotel origins and its chestnut-paneled interior rather than any single dramatic incident, and no named figure or documented investigation is attached to the building in the sources reviewed. The haunting reputation rests on its inclusion in local haunted-history reporting and on the general atmosphere of an old inn.
For that reason the listing is held for further review: the building's history is well documented, but the paranormal claim is carried by a single local roundup rather than by corroborated, site-specific accounts. Visitors come primarily for the steakhouse and the period inn rooms, with the haunted reputation as a backdrop.
Six second-floor guest rooms with private baths and period furnishings, above a steakhouse and the White Tail Tavern. The interior is lined with American wormy chestnut. The building dates to about 1900 as a railroad hotel and is named among Salamanca's haunted-history sites.
Dinner in the chestnut-paneled dining rooms and tavern of a building that has fed travelers since its railroad-hotel days.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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