Generations of readers who loved the Little House books of author Laura Ingalls Wilder will be delighted to learn that they can visit the site where the books began the story of Laura's life.
No road, not even the faintest trace of wheels or of a rider’s passing, could be seen anywhere. That prairie looked as if no human eye had ever seen it before. Only the tall wild grass covered the endless empty land and a great empty sky arched over it. – from Little House on the Prairie
The Trail Left Laura Followed
Like many other pioneer families, the Ingalls seldom lingered long in any one place. Laura’s stories began in the big woods of Wisconsin. After leaving the Kansas grasslands, the Ingalls lived in Minnesota, in South Dakota, and even for a time in Nebraska. Laura herself relocated to the Missouri Ozarks after her marriage to Almanzo Wilder. The Ingalls lived on the Kansas prairies during 1869 and 1870. Although they had made a life there, the family learned that they had settled by mistake three miles into the Osage Reserve; land set aside for the Osage tribe. Official relocations of any settlers within those boundaries were scheduled. Charles Ingalls didn’t wait and instead loaded up his household goods within a day of learning of the official decision. Ironically, six months later the Osage were relocated into Oklahoma, then Indian Territory, and settlers allowed back into the region. The Ingalls could have reclaimed the land they homesteaded. By then, however, they were settled in Walnut Grove, Minnesota and did not return.
When Laura Ingalls Wilder began chronicling her childhood in a series of books, she had no way to know that her books would rank among classic children’s literature or be translated in more than forty languages. She wrote her stories down at the suggestion of her daughter, journalist Rose Wilder Lane, to preserve the past. Her tales of pioneer life fired the imaginations of children worldwide and inspired a long running television series titled Little House on the Prairie. Starring Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls, the program remains popular in syndication.
As years past and the fame of Laura’s simple books spread, Kansas residents began to wonder where the little house on the prairie had been. Years of research yielded land records and other information that determined the site was near Wayside. By 1977 Margaret Clement and Eilene Charbo of the Kansas State Historical Society had documented the exact location. The Ingalls appeared in an 1870 census of the area. Volunteers built a cabin on the spot and based it on Laura’s descriptions in the book. Although there was no doubt as to validity of the site, the discovery of Charles Ingalls' hand dug well confirmed the location.
The Little House On The Prairie Today
The water was clear and cold and good. Laura thought she had never tasted anything so good as those long, cold drinks of water. Pa hauled no more stale water from the creek. – from Little House on the Prairie
Small but snug, the one-room reconstructed cabin is furnished in period style. All the furniture is hand made and sturdy. All original furnishings accompanied the Ingalls on to Minnesota but the interior has been made as much like Laura’s descriptions as possible, down to the tablecloth! The red checked cloth was on the table, the little china woman glimmered on the mantle-shelf, and the new floor was golden in the flickering firelight. Once the site opened for visitors, other buildings were moved the same location. One is the former Wayside, Kansas post office and now serves as a gift shop offering all the Little House books for sale along postcards and memorabilia. Another is an old rural schoolhouse from Sunnyside, Kansas. Used as both school and church the building is furnished within with traditional desks and other items, historically correct although from a time later than Laura’s life on the prairie. The school is much like those Laura attended in other places and the one she taught in before her marriage.
After wedding Almanzo Wilder, Laura made the last wagon trip of her life to the Missouri Ozarks where she and her husband settled down on Rocky Ridge Farm near Mansfield. It was there that the Wilders reared their daughter Rose and where Laura began her career as a writer. Long before she penned the now famous Little House books, Laura wrote for many magazines, including The Missouri Ruralist.
The Little House on the Prairie historical site is located 13 miles southwest of Independence, Kansas off Highway 75. Independence is located in southeast Kansas at the junction of highways 160 and 75. An annual Prairie Days Celebration each summer recreates life on the tall grass prairies with period craftsman, wagon rides, musical entertainment and more. Details are available by calling the Little House site at (620) 289-4238.
There is no admission to visit Laura’s little house on the prairie but donations toward upkeep and maintenance are accepted. Anyone who ever delighted in the Laura’s stories will enjoy a visit to the place described with such detail in Little House on the Prairie, second of the nine book series.
"It’s a great country, Caroline." Pa said, "But there will be wild Indians and wolves here for many a long day." –
As far as they could see, to the east and to the south, and to the west, nothing was moving on all the vastness of the High Prairie. Only the green grass was rippling in the wind and white clouds drifted in the high, clear sky –fromLittle House on the Prairie.
Those long days ended well before the 21st century began but standing in the doorway of the simple, recreated cabin, it’s easy enough to look out at the prairie and imagine what life was like for a little girl named Laura. The land still rolls out to meet the horizon in gentle sweep, the prairie where the Ingalls family built their home is no longer empty. Trees once found only along the creek now dot the landscape beside farmhouses, fences, and cultivated fields. More than a century has passed since the Ingalls family homesteaded here and civilization has encroached into the prairie.
Near the small community of Wayside, Kansas a small log cabin stands testament to another time. It is the Little House on the Prairie, a Kansas State Historical Site with a reconstructed version of the cabin that Laura’s family called home. It stands in the very spot where the original house was built on the land homesteaded by Charles Ingalls. Generations of children have read about Laura’s life on the Kansas prairies with delight and today visitors of all ages visit the site where the story took place. Despite increased population and other changes, the land itself remains little changed.
All around them there was nothing but grassy prairie spreading to the edge of the sky. Quite near them, to the north, the creek bottoms lay below the prairie. Some darker green tree-tops showed and beyond them bits of the rim of earthen bluffs held up the prairie’s grasses. Far away to the east, a broken line of different greens lay on the prairie and Pa said that was the river. – from Little House on the Prairie.