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The Everly House
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
| July 29, 2002--Remember the old Elvis song, "This old house is a getting shaky, this old house is getting old"? Many people in Winfield were talking about the old Victorian "Everly" house. Elizabeth Everly used to live there. Now Janet and Kenny Buss are the new owners. It's a house that's had the whole town talking. |  | "It's going to be beautiful when it's done and it was beautiful when it was built", commented Janet. "It's a shame it got let go but it's going to be restored. It's got so much charm and I think the house has so much mystery in it." |  | And the woman who was part of the 'mystery' of the Everly house - 96 year-old Elizabeth Everly. "It's known as a haunted house. My dad used to chuckle and say, you bet it is . . . .two of the liveliest ghosts you've ever seen." | It's been years since Elizabeth lived here. She had owned it but neighbors watched as the house deteriorated and became overgrown with brush. "The overgrowth was so bad that you couldn't even see the home and sadly it did hurt the house," explained Janet.
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Dave Seaton, publisher of the Winfield Daily Courier said the house was on the verge of being lost. A headline about the house called it "buried treasure." "If something stands there long enough and it is beautiful in it's own way, then it becomes kind of an icon and people talk about it. And the fact that they couldn't get inside made it all the more intriguing."
"We bought the home but it really wasn't our home. It belonged to the community," added Janet. We may never know why Elizabeth Everly let the old house go. Her close friends says she was so busy taking care of everyone else that she couldn't take care of the house too. Regardless she has fond memories. "We had a wonderful fireplace. My dad used to build an awfully good fire. When I built fires there, the back log used to burn up first," Elizabeth laughs. She is happy the house and it's treasures are being restored so I asked Elizabeth if she'd like to see it again. "No, I don't think so," she commented. | | "You know when you look at that house you have to take it one day at a time," said Janet. "You don't look at the overall picture of everything you have to do or you would get tired." |  | | Elizabeth did. Now a new generation believes they made the right decision in restoring the Everly house. "I'm glad we did it. You might ask me that in about six months, but right now, yes, I'm glad we did. It really is an exciting project." |
The Victorian home known as the 'Everly" house was built in 1892. It's located at 421 E. 11th in Winfield, Kansas.
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