The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society has discovered a piece of history hiding in plain sight. It's part of the group's ongoing effort to identify and preserve buildings that date back to the pioneer author's time in De Smet.
The building that currently houses Bernie's Barber Shop on Calumet Avenue in De Smet dates back to the 1800s. Back then, it was the Owen Shoe Shop run by Sam Owen. Sam's son would go on to be known as "Mr. Owen," Laura and Carrie Ingalls's schoolteacher in De Smet.
Eric Fairchild is a tour guide and amateur historian with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society. He's been investigating property records to identify original buildings from Laura's time in the area.
"It's surprising because of all the facelifts and remodels throughout the years that—how much of the original town is still here," Fairchild said. "It just floors me that we're standing in the same places that she was."
That sense of awe is mixed with urgency. Mary Jo Wertz is the executive director of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society.
"What went through my mind is, 'I wonder what else is there that we have missed?'" she said.
Thanks to recent property tax assessments, Eric Fairchild is partnering with Kingsbury County to answer that very question.
"Part of that is going through everything and really combing their records to get accurate records," explained Fairchild. "They're making me a list of the oldest buildings in town so that I can actually go out there and we can photograph them and document them and eventually come up with maybe a pamphlet, a booklet, a map or something where we can say, 'This is what Laura saw when she was here.'"
That's the appeal for the thousands of Little House on the Prairie fans who visit De Smet every year. Mary Jo Wertz said Laura's memories of De Smet were fresh because she lived there later in life than other parts of the series.
"We can point out from the book, 'Yep, she's talking about that street, that corner, this building,' in a way that the other books can't," said Wertz.
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society is documenting the historic property research in its quarterly newsletter, The Lore.
