| Year(s) Listed: • 2007 • 2008 |
| City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas |
| Location Class: • Residential |
| Built: N/A | Abandoned: N/A |
| Status: • Endangered |
| Contributor: Kansas Preservation Alliance |
The Homestead Act of 1862 made much of Kansas available for settlement. The Act provided farmers with 160 acres of land, provided they would live on the land for five years and improve it. Many of these settlers began in sod houses and then built frame or stone buildings depending on available local materials. Most of these agricultural resources are located in areas of the state that have lost population.
The Tamme Lucken Rewerts Homestead is located in Lydia and provides an example of a farm that began as a Homestead. In 1887, Rewerts moved his family from Illinois and established a farm in western Kansas, seven years later he received ownership of the land and his family continued to farm it until 1967. At that time, the farmhouse, windmill, cellar, and associated outbuildings were abandoned. The buildings exist today in a deteriorated state and the land around them is leased for farming.
