When John Fenton Pratt started building Cottonwood Ranch in 1885, he had no idea that it would someday tell the story of his family.  The ranch, located in the southern portion of the Solomon River Valley, along U.S. Highway 24, near the small town of Studley, in northwestern Kansas, has persevered time.
       Step Back...  into Kansas History!
Visitors experience the past as it was...when they tour the ranch in its near unchanged Kansas prairie setting.  Besides stepping back in time as one wanders through and between the ranch buildings, including the house, the ever widening Kansas landscape stretches to the horizons.  This is the way it is now, the same as it was, then.
Visitors are given an introductory slide program and tour of the house. A self-guided tour brochure provides information about the outbuildings and other nearby features such as the spring, historical trail, Fenton’s orchard, and Hilda’s and Elsie’s play area. ​
In 1982 the State of Kansas purchased approximately 23 acres of the original Cottonwood Ranch. Today, the Kansas State
Historical Society administers the property as one of ​the state’s last surviving legacies of English settlement in Kansas.
The Legacy of Cottonwood Ranch, a new historical video  presented by The Friends of Cottonwood Ranch; directed by Ed Lowry; featuring Don Rowlinson.
This video has been featured on Smoky Hills PBS, PBS Kansas (Wichita) and Topeka PBS. Thank you!
​Overnight, ​in a sheep herder's wagon.
For Sale!  Cookbook from the kitchen of Hilda Pratt.