514 N. 4th Street, Independence, KS
Owned by the William Inge Festival Foundation

The William Inge Festival Foundation, an organization that funds the William Inge Theatre Festival and the William Inge Collection at Independence Community College, procured the boyhood home of the famous playwright and Independence native in December, 1997. Located at 514 N. 4th Street, William Inge was reared in the unassuming two story turn-of-the century home on the quiet tree-lined street and some of his most important works reflect the open wrap-around porch and the spare bedrooms which were rented to local school teachers as in his award-winning play Picnic. The home is most important to the writer’s work as a mirror reflection of the setting he staged in his play Dark at the Top of the Stairs, the most biographical work of the playwright.

The structure, which is being paid for with earnings from the Inge Foundation’s endowment fund, was purchased with not only the encouragement of the Festival’s National and Community Advisory Boards but also by the Inge family.

At the 1998 Festival, Inge's niece, Jo Ann Kirchmaier, conducted a session entitled "Memories of William Inge’s Boyhood Home" in the living room of the house.  The event was so well attended that the participants flowed into every room of the downstairs even trailing up the infamous staircase where Inge got his head stuck between the railings and had to be sawed out. Festival organizers thought that it was a natural transpiration to hold Festival events in the home which will continue to play an important part not only in the Festival but in Independence history.

Plans for the house include restoring the home to reflect the era of Inge’s childhood in the 1920s while leaving the obvious charm of the sawed stair rail and the natural dark that hovers at "the top of the stairs." The home will house some of Inge’s memorabilia and personal effects and some of the original antique furnishings, donated by members of the family, will be displayed.

Plans include renovation of the home and placing it on the national historical register. Beyond restoration, the home will used during the annual Inge Festival as a session site and backdrop for performances of Inge’s plays. Long term plans include opening the house to visitors during selected times of the year, and developing it into a retreat for playwrights who will be able to spend extended periods of time honing their craft.  The Inge Festival Foundation Board considers the Inge home a gift back to the community that Bill Inge loved and wrote of so poignantly.