Laura Ingalls Wilder died at her home, Rocky Ridge Farm, in Mansfield, Missouri, three days after her 90th birthday.
Laura Ingalls Wilder died on February 10, 1957, at her beloved Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri, just three days after celebrating her 90th birthday. She had outlived her husband Almanzo by eight years, having continued to live independently on the farm they built together.
By the time of her death, Wilder had become one of the most beloved children's authors in American history. Her nine-volume Little House series had sold millions of copies and been translated into numerous languages, cementing her legacy as a chronicler of American pioneer life. She had already received the inaugural Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association in 1954, an honor named for her that continues to be awarded to authors and illustrators for lifetime contributions to children's literature.
Her death marked the end of a remarkable American life that spanned from frontier log cabins to modern literary celebrity—she lived long enough to see her childhood memories transformed into beloved published works read by children across the nation. Her Mansfield home was later preserved as the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum, and her birthplace sites across the Midwest became pilgrimage destinations for fans of her books. Her legacy was further extended posthumously through the television adaptation Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), which introduced her stories to new generations.