Topeka — The Senate unanimously approved a bill to allow the state to take possession of the Emporia home of legendary editor William Allen White.
The 40-0 vote Thursday sent the bill to the House.
The measure would let the Kansas State Historical Society turn the home into a historic site.
Already designated a national historic landmark, the house has been visited by six presidents and has a front staircase designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
White, an Emporia native born in 1868, edited The Emporia Gazette for 49 years, starting in 1895. He died in 1944.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for a 1922 editorial, "Letter to an Anxious Friend."
He first came to national attention for his 1896 editorial, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" an attack on the Populist Party.
"William Allen White is a great Kansan and a great American, and we think it's appropriate that his home be part of our heritage," said Sen. Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
The bill is supported by the White family, Emporia residents, many journalists and the William Allen White Foundation at Kansas University.
KU's School of Journalism and Mass Communications bears White's name.
Supporters note that White's writing found a national audience and that he was a confidante of presidents and other prominent Americans.
Federal funds of $700,000 already have been set aside to preserve the home.
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