LURAY, Kan. (KSNW) – Three years ago, Wyatt Mullender embarked on a journey to save the first home in Russell County.
“Me and my grandma were going on a walk to get stuff from Co-op, and we just walked by, and I said, ‘we need fix this up because it’s so bad,'” Wyatt said. “And I knew that I was related to them somehow. My dad’s side, way down the line. I knew that my family would be proud, and I knew I needed it.”
The first thing he did was start raising money to repair the roof. He had lemonade stands and a barbeque and helped with local golf tournaments.
“I’m happy,” Mullender said. “It looks good. I was excited that it went from that to this.
It was so bad, and I felt like doing it. I just had that initial instinct to do it and that it was part of my family. I wanted to get it up and good again so other people can come and see it, other generations can come and see it.”
He is still raising money to restore the rest of the home. Wyatt says he has enjoyed history since he was little.
“I just like doing history in school,” Mullender said. “I found it cool that it actually happened. My aunt would take us to these old places. We would go there with her, and I thought it was pretty cool.”
“Wyatt came in, and we joke a little bit in the county that Wyatt was my youngest client,” Mike Parsons said. “He came in with a dream to preserve this, not only for the family history of the cabin but as a project for the City of Luray.”
Parsons said Wyatt’s dedication put a smile on everyone’s face.
“Number one, to have a young man come in with the ambition to do something like this, and then not just the ambition to do it, but a plan to make it happen,” Parsons said. “And with that came fundraising, all sorts of things from selling food and drinks, lemonade stands, fixing drinks and food for golf tournaments, everything you can think of to try to raise funds for this project.”
The home was moved about a quarter mile north to be closer to the highway.
Wyatt coordinated with Russell County Economic Development to make it happen.
“We helped do some of the paperwork, but he’s done the groundwork and all the hard work of raising the funds to make it happen,” Parsons said. “This is a great project. A great young man is leading the march to do it.”
Wyatt wants everyone else near and far to experience Luray’s history.
“Make it look good and make it able to have other people come look at it, make it safe for other people so they can bring their kids in,” Mullender said. “They won’t get hurt. I think it’s really cool knowing that it happened, and it had a big part in how stuff is today. Just come by and see it.”
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