"... may be the last known Smoky Valley Swedish Homestead"  -- Smoky Valley historian writer Bill Carlson, c2006
  [As a result of the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2007- 2008, this land was destined to be sold in late 2011.]

Home

Recognizing & Thanking
- Those Smoky Valley persons who believed in benefiting the Smoky Valley through Peaceful Acres -
(a goal which would not be realized)

- 2009 -

- THEIR FINISHED PRODUCT-

 - a silhouette of a perishing way of life -

" The Old Deere Farm "

PHASE ONE
- clearing the land -

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AND THANKS GO TO

*Rev. Don Hawk,  the "Prayers and Well Wishers"
Larry Elmquist, Michael Hoag, *Claude Koehn: the restoration advisors
*Eugene M. Cochran, the farming consultant
Roy Lister for trimming the trees
Larry Peters for clearing the farmstead of trees
*Claude Koehn for understanding the PA vision and for his restorative stone work on the stable wall
*Jeffrey D. "Ole" Olson for his determined work and vision for Swede House
R.D. Rasmusson for organizing and taking charge of the work crews:
The Swede Team 1:  *Jeffrey "Ole" Olson and Laird Larson
The Swede Team 2:  Tom Poole and Thyne Poole
John Bellah for organizing The Swede Team 3:
Smoky Valley High School students Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson

*Departed

The Prayers & Well Wishers
at the
Dedication Service of Peaceful Acres
1998

Back row: 
*Rev. Don Hawk,  Maj-Britt Hawk, *Mary Perkins, Marla Elmquist, *Hubert Mattingly, Larry Elmquist, Karen Leaf, *Marlys Mattingly, David Hawk
Front row:
David Gossman, Anne Gossman, Angela Gossman, *Raymond Olson, Melinda O'Leary
Not pictured was Bethany College Professor *Dr. Leon Lungstrom
Not able to attend were Bethany College President Dr. Rev. Christopher Thomforde due to a funeral service for student,  Evangelical Covenant Church Rev. Pastor Jeff Waugh,  Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery Director Larry Griffis
*Departed.

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through the years 

- 1996 -

Farmer Rev. Don Hawk, my nephew and sister finding the ruins in the jungle of trees at sunset

- 1998 -

The Restoration Advisor
Larry Elmquist

- 2000 -

The Farming Consultant
Eugene M. Cochran

Responsible for naming Swede House

- 2001 -

The Swede Teams

Team 1
R. D. Rasmusson,  Jeffrey "Ole" Olson, Laird Larson

Because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, fear of flying was rampant and I almost did not go.  Yet, in direct defiance to the terrorist as many Americans felt, they, like my father and I would fly.  So from San Francisco to Kansas  and Lindsborg we went to work on a house built by Swedes in 1873, for it was "an American thing to do" -- especially then!  On the day of these photos, October 29, 2001, my father said to me, "You know, you should call the house, "SWEDE HOUSE."

- 2002 -

Team 2
R.D. Rasmusson, Tom Poole and Thyne Poole

Through the years, once each year, clearing the grounds continued from 2003 to until 2009,

- 2009 -

Team 3
The Smoky Valley High School Team
Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson

Job 1
The "Smoky Valley Outdoor Classroom"

THEIR FINISHED "SMOKY VALLEY OUTDOOR CLASSROOM"

Here classes would be able to sit on three walls to hear stories from the "old timers" of the Smoky Valley.  Then they could take a walk through the Peaceful Acres Gardens to learn the locations of the cistern, the windmill, the outhouse, the tornado cave, and the two water wells -- all of which are still "the traces" of the Smoky Valley pioneers.  Also, plans were to invite artist and photographers to spend time reproducing the rustic beauty of this last look at this perishing way of life.

- 2009 -

Team 3
The Smoky Valley High School Team
Cody Bowers, Stephen DeWitt, Seth Nelson

Job 2

Swede House

PREPARING IT FOR THE NEXT PHRASE

Jeffrey D. "Ole" Olson's Swede House
- he was the sole person who believed in its possiblities -

For Claude Koehn, The Before and After, go HERE.

*     *     * 
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
*     *     * 

All color photography throughout Swedes:  The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © 2018 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org.  All rights reserved.