Tour, part 2

The founder of this ranch, John Fenton Pratt (pictured on the left with a friend), emigrated from his home in Ripon, Yorkshire County, England, to the South Solomon valley in 1880. Here Fenton joined his father, Abraham, who in 1878 had settled on land adjacent to Fenton's property. In 1882 Fenton's younger brother Tom immigrated to the United States and later settled close by his family. The Pratts prospered in Kansas as successful businessmen, farmers, and ranchers.

Fenton Pratt, a sheepman and financier, constructed this house in three phases. He built the middle section in 1885, the west wing in 1890, and the east wing in 1896. The buildings and walls north of the house were built in the early 1890s. During the same time Fenton began planting cottonwood trees on his property. Later the place was called Cottonwood Ranch.

In 1888 Fenton married a Yorkshire native, Jennie Elizabeth Place. The couple had two daughters, Hilda, born in 1889, and Elsie, born in 1894. Fenton Pratt sold all of his sheep and most of his land in 1904 and pursued his other business interests in Sheridan and Graham Counties. He died in 1937. Hilda never married and remained on the homeplace with her mother. After the death of Mrs. Pratt n 1959, Hilda lived alone at the ranch until 1978. She died in 1980.

In 1982 the State of Kansas purchased approximately twenty-three acres of the original John Fenton Pratt ranch. The Kansas Historical Society administers the property as one of the state's historic sites.

The dining room features a fireplace faced by pink, green and white tiles and surrounded by an ornately carved wood mantelpiece.

Many of the furnishings in the house were ordered from England by Fenton Pratt. These items included a horsehair sofa with four matching chairs all with mahogany trim; a red Chinese screen; a piano; chair, its back and seat done in needlework, with a matching footstool; and three brass beds.