While the land was first homesteaded shortly before the civil war, we believe that the first truly permanent structures were not constructed until about 1880. The original house was only a single story, probably with two rooms. A few years later, a section was added, making an L shape. Around 1900, a large cube was added containing eight rooms. The original house was later demolished leaving only the large cube. An entryway with room for a washer and dryer was added many years later.
The farm was originally owned by a family who had emigrated from Germany. This family moved off the land shortly after World War II and the farm was rented to a succession of young farm families for a number of years. The last of these families purchased the farm from the original homesteaders in the 1960s. They farmed it until the mid 1990s and sold the farm to us in 1998.
Wheat was the traditional crop in the area when settlers first arrived, and it is likely that a substantial amount of wheat was grown here in the early years. But for the majority of its history, this was a dairy farm, with a milking herd of over 60 Holsteins at the height of its operation. Corn, oats, soybeans, and hay have been major crops here since the end of World War II.