Cather House

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

From the record

“The Willa Cather House, also known as the Willa Cather Childhood Home, is a historic house museum at 241 North Cedar Street in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Built in 1878, it is the house where author Willa Cather (1873-1947) grew up.”
Wikipedia article Willa Cather House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 36 National Register listings published here for Webster County · listed in 1969 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

National Historic Landmark. The highest federal designation, held by about 2,600 places in the country against roughly 100,000 Register listings.
What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Still standing. The Park Service records this property as extant.
Address. SW corner of 3rd and Cedar Sts., Red Cloud, 68970
When was it listed? April 1969
Category. building
Also known as. Willa Cather TR (AD); Willa Cather TR
District. District 5
National Register reference number. 69000139 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

18 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Cather House between 2003 and 2020, burning about 48 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	6
Equipment and vehicle use	6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
17 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
1 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
3 August 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	5.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
28 August 2010	Equipment and vehicle use	6.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
30 July 2003	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
12 July 2007	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
25 June 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
2 May 2015	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Webster County

Storms near this property

60 of 92 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Red Cloud, the town this property stands in, in 92 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 49 hail, 29 thunderstorm wind, 9 heavy rain, 3 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
September 2023	Hail	Red Cloud	$15,000,000	Hail up to the size of baseballs fell across Red Cloud for approximately 25 minutes. There were numerous reports of car damage, and there was likely roof and siding damage as well. Trees in the area also suffered damage from the hail.
May 1993	Tornado (F1)	Red Cloud	$5,000,000	Tornado touched down five miles south of Red Cloud and moved northwest. A home was damaged just south of Inavale.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$150,000	Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH resulted in downed tree limbs across town, some falling onto power lines and causing power outages. A resident just southeast of town reported pivot and grain bin damage near their location in addition to tree damage.
May 2025	Flash Flood	Red Cloud	$100,000	Strong thunderstorms dropped as much as 4 to 6 inches of heavy rain across the area. Rural roads in the area were affected by running water, as were a portion of Highway 78/128 near the border of Webster County, NE and Jewell County, KS and a portion of Highway 281 in Smith County, KS. Some of the highest measured rain totals included: 5.62 inches from nine miles north-northwest of Burr Oak, KS; 5.61 inches from three miles east of Guide Rock, NE; 5.60 inches from six miles north of Esbon; 4.84 inches from four miles north-northwest of Bostwick.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$100,000	no account filed
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$100,000	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Red Cloud	$75,000	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Red Cloud	$75,000	no account filed
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$70,000	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Red Cloud	$50,000	no account filed
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$50,000	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Red Cloud	$50,000	no account filed
May 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$50,000	no account filed
June 1998	Hail	Red Cloud	$50,000	no account filed
July 2006	Hail	Red Cloud	$40,000	no account filed
June 2016	Hail	Red Cloud	$35,000	Hail was accompanied by 75 MPH wind gusts.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$35,000	Wind (measured by a personal weather station) was accompanied by nickel size hail.
May 2001	Hail	Red Cloud	$30,000	no account filed
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$25,000	Several small branches were down around town, along with half of a larger tree, due to an apparent microburst.
September 2018	Hail	Red Cloud	$25,000	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Red Cloud	$25,000	no account filed
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$25,000	no account filed
May 2008	Flash Flood	Red Cloud	$20,000	With six and three quarters of an inch of rain over a 48 hour period, the Crooked Creek overflowed its banks by two to three feet.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$15,000	Wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH just north of Red Cloud, where the power went out from the strong wind gusts.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$15,000	Wind gusts were estimated between 55 and 60 MPH, causing the town of Red Cloud to lose power.
July 2015	Hail	Red Cloud	$15,000	no account filed
May 1999	Flash Flood	Red Cloud	$15,000	no account filed
June 1998	Hail	Red Cloud	$15,000	no account filed
September 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
July 2006	Hail	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$10,000	no account filed
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$8,000	no account filed
March 2019	Hail	Red Cloud	$5,000	Hail ranged from quarter to golf ball size.
September 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$5,000	Two large tree limbs were downed by wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$5,000	Several trees were uprooted at the local golf course. Other trees were damaged.
June 2006	Hail	Red Cloud	$5,000	no account filed
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$5,000	no account filed
September 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	$2,000	no account filed
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Red Cloud	-	Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH resulted in some downed power lines in Red Cloud.
June 2017	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	A 12-hour (overnight) rain total of 3.54 inches occurred four miles east of Red Cloud.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	A rainfall total of 4.0 inches occurred in Red Cloud.
August 2013	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	A 12 hour total of 3.20 inches fell through 7 am CDT. This report was from the Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network (NERAIN).
May 2011	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Storm total rainfall of 3.62 inches reported over last 24 hours by a NeRAIN observer.
May 2011	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Storm total rainfall of 3.82 inches reported over last 24 hours.
May 2011	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Storm total rainfall of 3.50 inches was reported by a NeRAIN observer.
May 2011	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Storm total rainfall of 3 inches was reported.
August 2011	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Storm total rainfall over the past 24 hours of 3 inches was reported.
June 2008	Heavy Rain	Red Cloud	-	Rainfall total of 1.33 inches. Some pea size hail reported.
June 2019	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
May 2019	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
July 2019	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
April 2019	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed
April 2016	Hail	Red Cloud	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Webster County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Perkins-Wiener House	under 500 feet	1982
Miner Brothers Store	under 500 feet	1982
Miner House	under 500 feet	1982
US Post Office-Red Cloud	0.1 miles	1992
Main Street Historic District	0.1 miles	1982
Farmer's and Merchant's Bank Building	0.1 miles	1981

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 69000139 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Webster County	All 36 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.