Talk:Bill Kurtis

Laura Ingalls Wilder connection?

Laura Ingalls Wilder lived at a place in Independence, Kansas. The place is now located on the William Kurtis ranch. Is William Kurtis = Bill Curtis? Royalbroil 14:57, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

It is cited on one of his references. Royalbroil ^{Talk  Contrib} 13:03, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Reference 2 in footnotes is a bad link

It does not link to the history of Bill Kurtis's father, BGen William Kurtis. Cuprum17 (talk) 18:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Bill Kurtis, reporter and journalist, and his sister, Jean Kurtis Schodorf, inherited the family farm, the Lucky Beck, near Independence, Kansas. They inherited the farm from their mother, Wilma Horton Kurtis. In 1970, Margaret Clement, a bookstore owner and historian from Independence, KS, found the site where Laura Ingalls Wilder and family lived in 1869-1871. She pinpointed the location on the farm, owned by Wilma Horton Kurtis. A sign was erected in 1972, denoting the location. In 1976, a school house was moved to the site, the school house where Bill and Jean's grandmother, Lillian Jones, taught in 1901. The following year, volunteers reconstructed a log cabin on the site, built just like the descriptions in the book. The following year, a small post office was moved to the site. After Bill and Wilma Kurtis died, Jean and Bill began operating the Little House on the Prairie.

About 12,000 people visit the site every year from all 50 states and about 23 countries. The gift shop has been moved to the 1880 farm house to the east of the cabin. A wood-framed barn was built in 1923 by their grandfather, Bert Horton. Little House on the Prairie is a non-profit, 501-c3 corporation. The site is currently trying to renovate the barn to use for educational classes about the prairie and books. The site is dedicated to encouraging children to read and to Kansas history.

Consult the Little House web site: www. Littlehouseontheprairie.com Jean Schodorf, Littlehouse1 (talk) 23:50, 5 March 2009 (UTC)