In 1982 the State of Kansas purchased approximately twenty-three acres of the original Cottonwood Ranch. Today the Kansas State Historical Society administers the property as one of the state's best preserved historic sites which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located near the town of Studley which sits on the border of Graham and Sheridan Counties on Highway 24.

In the late 1800s many thousands of EuroAmericans attempted to establish permanent settlements on the High Plains of northwest Kansas. Only a few were successful. Among those who survived and prospered were the Pratt's, a family of immigrants from Yorkshire County, England. Between 1878 and 1882 Abraham Pratt and sons John Fenton and Tom settled on adjacent tracts of land in the South Solomon Valley.

In 1885 the first section of the house at Cottonwood Ranch was constructed. The original house was a one-room, native-stone building measuring thirty-two and one-half by eighteen and a half feet on the inside, with a sod-covered roof and an earthen floor. During the winter of 1885 a severe blizzard swept through the area, and the temperature was so cold that ice formed on the inside north wall of the house. In late 1888 or early 1889 the sod roof was removed and replaced with wood. Later, two additions were added to the original house; first the west and then the east sections, giving its present appearance.

In its earliest days the ranchstead consisted of the stone house and at least one outbuilding of sod, which was used as a stable. A sod-walled corral was constructed near the stable. A small, wood-framed structure, which was used as a bathhouse and toilet, was located near the house in the 1880s and still exists at the ranch. In the late 1800s a natural spring northwest of the house was modified to carry water into a storage cistern from which a pipeline was constructed to provide running water in the house.

During the early 1890s construction began on the various native-stone buildings that presently exist at the ranch. The large western building was constructed for housing wheeled vehicles in one end with the remaining three-fourths of the structure used for sheepshearing and lambing. Another stone building contained space for a farm workshop and stalls for eight horses. East of that building another stone structure was built to serve as a bunkhouse for the hired help and for storage. The easternmost building of the complex also was used for storage and as a shelter for livestock, but this building was struck by a tornado in 1911 and was razed to salvage the stone. Other known structures at the ranch were two wooden granaries, a water storage cistern near a windmill, and an icehouse for storing large blocks of ice cut from the river during the winter. Behind the house was a washhouse and cellar made of stone.

The complex of stone outbuildings was designed and arranged in a style similar to that found in the Pratts' homeland of North Yorkshire, England. In this arrangement all of the southern walls of the stone outbuildings, except the washhouse, are in a line connected by a stone fence. John Fenton Pratt, known as "Fent," became a very successful sheep rancher. His business ledgers indicate that in March and April 1891 he shipped 3,566 pounds of wool to markets in St. Louis and Philadelphia. In addition to selling wool and dealing in livestock trade, Fent served as the local financier. He accepted livestock, farm implements, and land as collateral against loans he made to dozens of people in the area. In the 1880s and 1890s Fent constructed a stone house and buildings. He also planted many cottonwood trees and named his home Cottonwood Ranch.