WICHITA, Kan. - A party is planned to wish a cabin a happy 140th birthday. The cabin on Beaver Creek in Smith County is where Brewster Higley wrote a poem in 1873 that became the words to "Home on the Range."
The July Fourth party will include music, food and plenty of gratitude to Kansans who have helped save the cabin.
The event will give Kansans a chance to see the cabin before a major restoration project starts. Contract bids for the project will be let this summer. The cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An estimated $80,000 to $100,000 is needed to restore it. The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/MjBRQ3 ) that $60,000 has been raised, including $2,000 from Kansas schoolchildren in a "Coins for the Cabin" fundraiser.