The Little House on the Prairie, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1935, had peaked the imagination and interest of readers for decades when Margaret Clement and Eilene Charbo of the Kansas State Historical Society set out to locate the Little House location. Years of painstaking research work culminated in 1977 with the discovery of the actual foundation of the Ingalls family's original cabin site and the well Pa Ingalls dug with help from a neighbor. (The picture on the left was graciously provided to us by: Little House on the Prairie Photography © Leslie A. Kelly 2000)

Research of the 1870 census of Montgomery County, Kansas, located the "Ingles" family in the eighty-ninth residence in Rutland Township.  C.P. Ingles was sited as a 34-year-old carpenter along with his wife, Caroline, and three daughters, Mary, Laura, and Carrie.  This 1870 census and the Ingalls' family Bible record that Carrie was born on this site on August 3, 1870.  The family lived here only a short while as they mistakenly settled on the Osage Indian Diminished Reserve.  After hearing that they were to be moved, the family decided to return to Wisconsin.  The Ingalls didn't know it, but six months later, the Osages were moved to Oklahoma and they would have been able homestead the land.

In 1977 local volunteers reproduced the Little House with special efforts to build the cabin according to descriptions in Laura's book.  

Many of the landmarks Laura mentions in her book can still be seen on and near the site.   Walnut Creek, the bluffs to the north of the home site and the mention of the Ingalls going to Independence for supplies authenticate the site.  Dr. George Tann, "Dr. Tan" in the book, who cared for the Ingalls family when they had "fever and ague", is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in nearby Independence.