Home On The Range

In 1947 the Kansas State Legislature adopted "Home On The Range" as the official state song of Kansas. Known around the world the song had become popular as a "cowboy ballad" promoting a simpler life in the American West. Its mention of Kansas place names, Beaver Creek and the Solomon River Valley, made it a good choice as music representing the Sunflower State.

The words, written by Dr. Brewster Higley in 1872 as a poem titled "My Western Home," described a land of blue skies and natural beauty set out on the banks of Beaver Creek in Smith County, Kansas, where Higley was living at the time. The poem had been set to music by Higley's neighbor, Dan Kelley, and within several years become popular in the West. The words had often been changed to reflect the locale wherein the song was sung but retained their original intent of a peaceful life where "the sky is not clouded all day."

There had been some controversy over the song's origins in the 1930s but the text, discovered in an 1876 issue of The Kirwin (Kansas) Chief determined that the words were Higley's. Though the words, home on the range, never appeared in Higley's original poem that title stuck and has remained as the song's official name.

Below are resources on "Home on the Range" including links to different audio versions of the song and the official words of the Kansas state version.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Home on the Range
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/homeontherange/
(Provided by National Public Radio, this web page offers a short history of the song and different audio versions. Some broken links)

Roam Is Where The Heart Is
http://www.kansashistoryonline.org/ksh/ArticlePage.asp?artid=111
(From Kansas History Online)

Home On The Range
http://ktwu.washburn.edu/journeys/scripts/2003/1601a.html
(KTWU public television Sunflower Journeys program transcript)

An Anthem
http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=459
(Provided by Discovering Lewis & Clark)

The History of the State Song
http://www.kshs.org/teachers/read_kansas/pdfs/i11card01.pdf
(Kansas State Historical Society)

"State Song of Kansas..."
http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/jan09/kssong12109.html
(A short article appearing on the Kansas State University's Media Relations website)

The Off-Key Story of a Song
http://www.southernlivestock.com/articles/columnists/home_on_the_range_the_offkey_story_of_a_song.4298.sls
(The controversy continues for some on the origins of the song)

INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS

Tales Out of School
http://www.emporia.edu/cgps/tales/nov2003.html
(Center for Great Plains Studies)

Read Kansas! - Fourth Grade
http://www.kshs.org/teachers/read_kansas/card_i11.htm
(Provided by the Kansas State Historical Society's Read Kansas! Program. This lesson teaches the history of the state song, “Home on the Range,” through expository text and a time line)

HIGLEY AND KELLEY

Brewster Higley VI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_M._Higley
(Wikipedia article)

Brewster Higley Historical Marker, Rutland, Ohio
http://www.remarkableohio.org/HistoricalMarker.aspx?historicalMarkerId=491

Historical Background of “Home on the Range”
http://www.dunelady.com/laporte/histories/Home_on_the_Range.html
(Written by Russell K. Hickman. Contains a lot of biographical information on Brewster Higley)

Brewster Higley's Gravesite
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6810840
(Provided at Find A Grave)

Daniel E. Kelley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_E._Kelley
(Wikipedia article)

SOME DIFFERENT VERSIONS

The Official Kansas State Song
https://sites.google.com/site/statesonghistory/
(Quoted from the 1947 Session Law)

Home on the Range: Classic Cowboy Poetry
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/Homeon.htm
(The original poem, the first version of the song and Lomax versions)

Three versions of the text on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_on_the_Range
(Higley, Goodwin and Lomax)

SMITH COUNTY, KANSAS

Nomination Form for "Home On The Range" cabin
http://www.kshs.org/resource/national_register/nominationsNRDB/Smith_HomeontheRangeCabinNR.pdf
(Kansas State Historical Society)

Kansas US Hwy 281
http://www.ushwy281.com/2010/01/home-on-the-range-with-kansas-us-hwy-281.html
(General information on Smith County which is also the location of the center of the 48 contiguous states)

Smith County KSGenweb
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/smith/
(Provided by the Kansas Genweb Project)

Smith County at Blue Skways
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/counties/SM/
(Provided by the State Library of Kansas)

YouTube Video

View a YouTube audio of "Home on the Range" featuring versions by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry:





Article by: Bill Sowers
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