The Stolley House

Built on "Indian Island" located south of Grand Island. Section 11, Doniphan Precinct, township 9 North Range 9 West and part of Township 10 North Range 9 West of the 6th P.M. The house was located on the northeast quarter of this section. (Peters School was located on the southwest quarter)
The timber claim cabin was originally located a few miles northeast of the Stolley farm and was built as a land improvement to obtain a timber claim by William Stolley. Stolley was unable to maintain the claim and it was contested by John Schimmer. The claim cabin was then moved to land on Indian Island that was purchased by William Stolley from Claus Obermiller.
The Stolley House was definitely built by Richard Stolley with help (just how much help is not known with any certainty) from his brother Frederick, whose family lived in the house. The amount of time the Frederick Stolley family spent living in the house is not fully documented. Frederick Stolley purchased land (Section 15, Township 10, Range 9 of the Doniphan Precinct) very close to Richard's land on 21 March 1898. Reportedly he constructed an exact duplicate of the house belonging to Richard on his own lands, but to date this has yet to be documented. The property that the Stolley house was on passed from Claus Obermiller, to William Stolley, then to Richard Stolley, back to William Stolley, then to the Stolley Trust Estate, to Leo Stuhr, and finally to the City of Grand Island. The museum requested that the buildings be donated by the city, and they, having no use for the structures agreed.

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