The farmstead provided a setting, and its occupants characters, for several of the works of author Willa Cather,[1] who grew up in Webster County.

[5] In 1890, Cather graduated from Red Cloud High School and moved to Lincoln to enroll in the University of Nebraska.

[3][4][6] In 1906, the Pavelkas bought a farm on the Divide,[3] in the northern part of a small region settled by Bohemians.

[7] Soon thereafter, possibly in 1911, they bought a one-story two-room house, probably built in the late 19th century, which they moved from a nearby farm to their own.

[1] The principal entrance of the house opens into the courtyard rather than toward the road, in keeping with traditional Czech village construction.

[1] Cather had remained in touch with her friends in Webster County, although she had moved from Nebraska to Pittsburgh and then to New York.

[11] At some time after both of them had died, probably in the 1950s, the house was remodelled: the porch was enclosed and given two external doors, and a south-facing gable window was raised.