'Little House On The Prairie' Log Cabin In Kansas Getting Makeover

WICHITA, KS — The deteriorating log cabin that sits on the "Little House on the Prairie" site in Kansas is slated for a face-lift.

The current cabin was re-created and built near Independence in 1977 at the television series' peak of popularity, The Wichita Eagle reported. The show is based off Laura Ingalls Wilder's books centered on her childhood in the country's Midwest region. Wilder spent a year with her family at the Kansas site in 1869.

Forty years of weather has worn down the home though, cabin owners Bill Kurtis and Jean Schodorf said. They want to rebuild the house and add a barn. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

“We want to replace and build a new old cabin,” Schodorf told the newspaper last week. “We will be using any of the materials that are salvageable for the new cabin. But really, that may be just the windows, floor and maybe the fireplace chimney.”

So far, $30,000 has been raised to rebuild the cabin. They need nearly $20,000 more to help pay skilled craftsmen.

“We want to make it exactly like the old cabin,” she said.

More than 20,000 people visit the site each year, Schodorf said. The cabin is scheduled for construction in October and November.

Photo credit: David Hepworth via Flickr/Creative Commons