Maud Palmer Hart, daughter of Thomas and Stella Hart, was born on April 25, 1892, in Mankato, Minnesota. The Hart family lived in this house from 1892 to 1906. Here Maud met her best friend, Frances "Bick" Kenny, who moved into the house across the street in 1898, and Maud and Bick remained lifelong friends. The tales of their childhood in Mankato, called Deep Valley, later became the Betsy-Tacy series.