Quanah Parker's Star House in Oklahoma featured in Ken Burns' 'American Buffalo' film

The historic home of a nineteenth-century Comanche warrior and leader Quanah Parker has long been in deteriorating condition as it sits empty on the grounds of a shuttered amusement park.

Star House is a two-story home with white stars painted atop its distinctive red roof. The home is one of about a dozen fading structures inside the former Eagle Park, but that's not where it was initially built.

What's the story behind the historic home and its modern-day impact?

Quanah Parker, Star House featured in Ken Burns' 'The American Buffalo' documentary

Ken Burn's latest project is an epic saga of national mammal, “The American Buffalo,” which was shown in a two-part, four-hour documentary for PBS that premiered Monday.

The series explores how the national mammal sustained Native Americans on the Great Plains for millennia – only to be nearly wiped out by white settlers in little more than a decade.

Among the characters depicted are Quanah Parker, a Comanche war leader, who would become a successful rancher and government liaison, and his eventual friend Charlie Goodnight, a former Indian hunter who, at his wife Molly’s inspiration, would help ensure the buffalo’s survival.

Julianna Brannum, a member of the Quahada band of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, served as a consulting producer on "The American Buffalo."

Who was Quanah Parker?

Quanah Parker was a Comanche warrior and political leader, known for his band of Quahada (Kwahada) Comanche surrendering in 1875 at Fort Sill during the Red River War, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.

After the surrender, Parker began working with Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie and Indian agent James M. Haworth to settle the Comanche on a reservation in Indian Territory.

This led to his rise to influence within his tribe and with whites, and is known as "the last official principal chief of his tribe."

Parker served as a judge for the area under the federal government's courts for Indian offenses and advocated for leasing pastureland to white ranchers.

By the time he died in 1911, Parker was a celebrity in his own right. He received many visitors like President Theodore Roosevelt and was in demand for riding in parades.

Why did Quanah Parker build Star House?

Star House was built in Fort Sill for Parker in 1889 for Parker by Texas cattlemen who he had made an agreement with to allow grazing on reservation lands, according to the nonprofit My Comancheria Institute and Save Star House Preservation, Inc.

The two-story, twelve-room house was home to Parker and his wives — having as many as five at one time, according to the historical society. They were known for feeding many hungry families and took in several white boys to raise with their own two dozen children, according to the National Park Service.

Parker had stars painted on the roof of the home as a sign of status, most family members and historians agree.

Ardith Parker Leming, Parker's great-great granddaughter, said Parker was inspired by the homes of the commanders at nearby Fort Sill.

“He never wanted to be outdone," she previously told The Oklahoman.

The house was purchased in 1958 by Herbert T. Woesner, who moved it to Cache on the site of Eagle Park, an amusement park that closed in 1985.

How Star House became an endangered building

Preservation Oklahoma has placed Star House on its list of Oklahoma's most endangered buildings several times, including on the 2023 list.

The home was in danger of demolition in 1956, when an expansion of Fort Sill included the Parker property, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

According to Preservation Oklahoma, the home has greatly deteriorated over the years and some have worried it might collapse.

Preservation hopes for Star House

A small group of people interested in the house started meeting with the current owners and have reached an oral agreement for restoration of the home.

Plans include moving the house to the front of the property and once again welcoming visitors inside to a living museum and educational center, according to Preservation Oklahoma.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Quanah Parker's Star House featured in Ken Burns' 'American Buffalo'