Left click on the image below for a larger version.
A 1901 drawing of the house.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
A 1901 photograph of the house.
The current owner supplies the following information:
This restored octagon house located in Kinsley Kansas was built by Charles Reitler in 1887 and was referred to as the "Reitler mansion" with a "cosy bathroom and verandah"
In August 1890 the cupola on the top of the house was struck by lightning and destroyed part of the attic though the rest of the house sustained no damage, quite remarkable considering fire fighting consisted of horse drawn wagons and a manned pump!
In 1901 the prominent Dr. M. DeTar family moved into the "magnificent dwelling house" and embellished it with oak hardwood floors and attractive landscape. Dr. DeTar's daughter, Lucile described the house to the current owners as "being a happy house with many good vibrations"
Many people owned the house since, until 1983 when the house was purchased by Brian and Lisa Sparke in a very bad state and was quickly dubbed "the DeTar house" it has been lovingly restored by the owners and craftsman/carpenter L.Milton Smith and Paul Cornelius.
Reconstruction of the verandah is still being considered.
There are many wonderful (and a couple of ghost stories ) to be told about the DeTar house, a more complete history and restoration stories are told in a newspaper article written by the "Edwards County Sentinel" September 7th 2000, you may view this article or copy it via the Kinsley Library.
In the images below, the front of the house faces north. One can judge the
view of the house using that feature. The last image shows some of the internal
flooring.
Left click on any image below for a larger version.
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