MANSFIELD DURING THE "LITTLE HOUSE" YEARS

History of Wright County, Missouri

There are no specific Indian tribes associated with the early days of what became Wright County in southwest Missouri, although the Shawnees, Delawares, and Piankashaws are known to have been in the area. The first permanent white settlers arrived in the 1830s, although men from neighboring Texas County hunted on the land that became Wright County and they set up temporary camps while there.

When Wright County was opened for settlement in 1840, pioneers flocked to the area, yet the first claims weren't filed until 1849, and no legal claims were filed near what became Mansfield until 1851.

During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Fox Creek and in Mountain Grove during the year 1862, and wounded soldiers were transported along Wolf Creek and through the area which became Mansfield.

Mansfield, "The Gem City of the Ozarks," lies in the middle of Pleasant Valley Township, in the old zinc mining district of southern Wright County. The original town site was purchased in 1881, with the plat filed in 1884. The town lies in Section 21, Township 28 North, Range 15 West. The town was named for Francis M. Mansfield, a Hartville attorney, and founded by Francis Mansfield and George Nettleton, a Kansas City railroad executive. The town was incorporated in 1886. Mansfield originally consisted of ten commercial blocks with the depot grounds and railroad running through the middle. The depot - with warehouse lots adjacent to it - was located on one side of the town square, with commercial lots on the other three sides. Several additions to the town were made by George Nettleton and others prior to the Wilders' arrival in 1894.

The first business in town was a general store, followed by a livery stable in 1882. Several stores were opened around the town square. The Kansas City, Springfield, and Memphis Railroad came through Mansfield  in 1882, and the town became the distribution point for mail and freight going north to Grovespring and south to the Arkansas line. The railroad south to Ava was begun in 1907. With the coming of the automobile, railroad traffic naturally decreased, but with better roads, Mansfield soon became a dairy center.

After 1900 - when the Wilders were living in town - there was rapid development as new businesses were started. There was a local newspaper, opera house, multiple drug stores, confectionery shops, bakery, flour mills, a saloon, bank, and two hotels. Soon Mansfield boasted a bottling works, creamery, and canning factory. The town was affected - as many were - by the Great Depression. While Laura Ingalls Wilder was writing her "Little House"® books in the '30s and '40s, the town continued to thrive, with clubs, businesses, churches, and a public lending library being opened, but discontinued for a time due to lack of funds.

The Almanzo Wilder Family in the Town of Mansfield

In June 1898, Almanzo Wilder purchased Lot 1, Block 8 in Nettleton's Addition to the town of Mansfield for $450 from George and Mary Miller, Mansfield residents. Two years earlier, Frank and Emma Cooley had purchased Lot 3, and the lot between was the residence of Dr. Robert Rogers, his wife Carrie and family. Almanzo purchased the town property following a lengthy visit by his father, and it is believed that the purchase price was a monetary gift from James Wilder. Almanzo, Laura, and Rose were living in the house as rental property at the time of purchase.

The Wilders continued to live in town and work on Rocky Ridge Farm whenever possible. Laura boarded and cooked for travelers, Rose attended school, and Almanzo worked odd jobs in town. Shortly after the Wilders purchased the home in town, Mr. Cooley died, and Almanzo took over his dray line. In 1899, Almanzo took out a $100 mortgage on the property, with Emma Cooley as lender. While living in town, Almanzo and Laura purchased several other lots in town as investments, plus they continued to add onto their property surrounding Rocky Ridge Farm.

In 1910, Laura and Almanzo sold Lot 1, Block 8 in Nettleton's Addition to banker Noah J. Craig for $500, and the Wilders moved permanently back to Rocky Ridge Farm.
 

The first Mansfield Public School was held in a building on Commercial Street. In 1891, a large four-room brick schoolhouse was built (it was destroyed by fire in 1908); this is the school attended for a time by Rose Wilder. Rose didn't remember her lessons or the Mansfield school fondly, and she left in 1903 to attend high school in Crowley, Louisiana, living with Almanzo's sister, Eliza Jane Thayer. Although Rose wrote that there was no high school in Mansfield, a ninth grade had been added in 1900, followed by a tenth grade the next year. George Cooley, Blanche Coday, and Ethel Burney were all students in the school. Although Rose graduated fro mhigh school in Crowley, Mansfield also had a graduating class of 1904; Rose's friend Ethel Burney was one of the graduates. Teachers were Professors Bennett, Marr, Platt, and Brand. One of the failures of the Mansfield school was its lack of Latin in the curriculum; George Cooley left Mansfield to attend school in Springfield, where Latin was offered. 

The first church in Mansfield was a Congregational Church, located on the site where the Presbyterian Church was built in 1884. At that time, the Methodists and Baptists held services in the Grand Army of the Republic Hall. Mansfield Methodist Church first held services in their "almost finished" sanctuary for Christmas 1899. The church was located a half block north of the town square on the Hartville Road. Soon an annex and Sunday school wing were added.

Although the Wilders never joined as members, they were active in the Methodist Church. Laura Ingalls Wilder is listed among the first members of the Ladies Aid Society, which became the W.S.C.S. An early poem about the church included these lines: "The Ladies Aid members / Which consisted of these / Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Patterson / And then if you please / Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. Wilder / Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Cooley / They were really good workers / Honest and truly."

By the 1940s, the church had both outgrown and worn out its original building, yet it wasn't until the 1960s that a new church was built on property west of town. Paul and George Cooley (friends of Rose's and the Wilders from On the Way Home) donated a pew in memory of their parents, Frank and Emma Cooley; it is still in use today. The original sanctuary was torn down in 1966.

The Wilders in Pleasant Valley Township - Rocky Ridge Farm

September 21, 1894, Laura E. Wilder purchased forty acres in the SE Section 22, Township 28 North, Range 15 West. Between 1894 and 1929, Laura and Almanzo Wilder purchased what amounted to nearly a quarter section of land located in various parts of Sections 22 and 23.

Many young apple trees had come with the land, and the Wilders planted these and others in an orchard near the house. When the trees were full-bearing, apples were shipped to market in Missouri and other states. Land was cleared for pastures, garden crops were planted, and farm animals were raised. Laura was especially known for her hens; Almanzo for his goats, cows, and horses. Almanzo purchased a Morgan horse, Governor of Orleans, which he intended to breed with Missouri stock in order to improve the bloodline. It may have been "hard work and short rations" at first, but Rocky Ridge Farm became well-known in the area, not only for the progressive farm, but the modern and well-planned farmhouse at which many parties and gatherings were hosted by the Wilders.

Rocky Ridge Farmhouse and the Rock House

When the Wilders purchased their first parcel of land, a road ran in front of it and paralleled the creek. The Wilders planned and built Rocky Ridge farmhouse so that the front door faced this early road. As described by Rose Wilder Lane in On the Way Home, the Wilders' first home on Rocky Ridge Farm was a log cabin that came with the property. A frame room was added to the cabin, and this room was later detached and moved to the chosen building site at the top of a gentle rise near a giant oak tree; this room became the kitchen, with the log cabin then being used as a barn. The next room added was a bedroom / sitting room, with a loft above for Rose. This room (with its ladder-stair surrounded by cupboards) later became the dining room. The bathroom was the last room added, In the 1920s, Rose Wilder Lane renovated the storage shed as the bathroom and added access from the bedroom. In later years, Laura added an electric range to use during the summer; otherwise, she preferred the wood-burning stove for cooking, saying that the food just tasted better when cooked on it!

Building material came from the farm itself: oak for beams and flooring, rock for the chimney, and massive stones for the fireplace sides and mantle. Water was piped into the kitchen and through the stove, so Laura had both hot and cold running water. Porches provided shady spots during hot summer days, and doors could be left open for cross-ventilation. An arbor was located outside the kitchen door, with the well and pump only a step away. For over twenty years, the Wilders farmed at Rocky Ridge and lived in the white farmhouse.

In the late 1920s, Rose Wilder Lane returned to Mansfield after living abroad. She decided that her parents needed a modern "English country cottage," so she purchased a set of plans from Sears, Roebuck, and Company, then hired an architect to make certain modifications to "The Mitchell," advertised as "English architecture with a touch of the popular California style." The house was built of rock on land purchased just over the ridge to the east of the white farmhouse. Even accessories and furniture were purchased by Rose. She presented Laura and Almanzo with the key to their new home for Christmas 1928, and she moved into "the other place" and started making improvements there. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her Pioneer Girl manuscript and the "Little House"® books through On the Banks of Plum Creek while living in the Rock House.

In 1936, Rose settled in Connecticut, so Laura and Almanzo packed up and moved back into the white farmhouse they designed and loved, renting out the Rock House and eventually selling it and the surrounding property.

As the Wilder's grew older, they began selling off parcels of land. In the early 1940s, they made arrangements to sell the remaining acreage and farmhouse to farming friends, the Wilders retaining possession of the house, barn, and outbuildings during their natural lives. Almanzo Wilder died at Rocky Ridge Farm on October 23, 1949. Laura remained on the farm until her death in 1957.

For more information

Anderson, William T. Laura Wilder of Mansfield. Davison, Michigan: Anderson Publications, 1968.

---. Little House Country: A Photo Guide to the Home Sites of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Kansas City: Terrell Publishing, Inc., 1989.

---. Laura Ingalls Wilder Country. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990.

---. Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Family, Home and Friends: Potpourri. Mansfield, Missouri: Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Home and Museum, 1981.

LeCount, W. David and  Irene Lichty LeCount. Laura's and Almanzo's Rocky Ridge Farm, Mansfield, Missouri, Then and Now. Mansfield, Missouri: Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Home and Museum, 1981.

Mansfield, Missouri, The First Hundred Years: 1882 – 1982. Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1983.

Wilder, Laura Ingalls. "The Story of Rocky Ridge Farm." Missouri Ruralist (July 28, 1911): 1.

---. "Come Into My Kitchen." Woman's Day (June 1939).

---. On the Way Home. Setting by Rose Wilder Lane. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

To see a copy of the Sears advertisement for "The Mitchell," CLICK HERE. Between 1906 and 1940, thousands of American homes were built using kits or plans purchased from mail-order sources such as Sears or Montgomery Ward. Often, all building materials - from floor joists to roof rafters (all carefully identified) - were delivered by rail, with detailed construction plans. Sometimes local builders were hired to build a home from a purchased set of plans. Rose Wilder Lane made a number of modifications to the plans she purchased, both in materials and design. She also had two rooms added upstairs. The Wilder home ended up costing considerably more than the advertised price!

Copyright © 2005 by Nancy Cleaveland - All Rights Reserved.