"... may be the last known Smoky Valley Swedish Homestead" -- Smoky Valley historian writer Bill Carlson, c2006
Home
~ a standing tribute to the Smoky Valley pioneers who settled this valley and to those who followed ~
[As a result of the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2007- 2008, this land was destined to be sold in late 2011.]
Home
~ a standing tribute to the Smoky Valley pioneers who settled this valley and to those who followed ~
[As a result of the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2007- 2008, this land was destined to be sold in late 2011.]
Their 1873 Swede House
~ A close twin to Lindsborg Founder Rev. Olof Olsson's stone house
"May be the last stone house of its kind in the area." -- Bill Carlson, 2006
~ A close twin to Lindsborg Founder Rev. Olof Olsson's stone house
"May be the last stone house of its kind in the area." -- Bill Carlson, 2006
- The similarities of Swede House to Bethany Lutheran Church Founder and Pastor Olsson's stone house are striking. -
The most interesting and historic part of the Swedish Homestead, of course, were its buildings in ruins. According to two historians -- former high school teacher, writer and Lindsborg Bethany Home Administrator Bill Carlson, and Kansas Mitchell County Historical Society Director Bethany College graduate Kyle Peterson -- their conclusions have been the same that this Swedish built stone house, Swede House, could very well be the last Swedish stone house of its kind in the Smoky Valley!
It is very likely that the builder of Swede House may have been the same builder of Dr. Rev. Olof Olsson's home who lead the largest group of Swedes to Lindsborg in June of 1869 and became the founder and pastor of the Bethany Lutheran Church. That builder would have been Magnus Carlson, Bill Carlson's great grandfather. This he told me while out on a tour of the Peaceful Acres homestead grounds.
I read in some Lindsborg literature that there was a real effort in Lindsborg to move the Olsson stone house to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum in the 1990s, but in the process the structure crumbled, and, with it, a crucial and foundational piece of Swedish Lindsborg Kansas Smoky Valley history was lost forever!
I read in some Lindsborg literature that there was a real effort in Lindsborg to move the Olsson stone house to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum in the 1990s, but in the process the structure crumbled, and, with it, a crucial and foundational piece of Swedish Lindsborg Kansas Smoky Valley history was lost forever!
Trying to find other stone houses of this Swedish design on the internet, I came upon one in Mitchell County Kansas which is being restored as a Mitchell County Museum project. It was at this time, I called the director Kyle Peterson to learn that once it is finished, it will become the home for this museum. I also learned from him that there are over a dozen of these houses in Mitchell County. To see this Mitchell County Museum Swedish stone house project that is under restoration, go HERE.
- THE COMPARISONS -
- Peaceful Acres Swedish Stone House -- Swede House - 2001
- Founder of Bethany Lutheran Church Pastor Olsson's Swedish Stone House -
drawing by his young daughter
Anna Olsson
* Drawing from page 9 of Anna's book, "En Prärieunges Funderingar -- "A CHILD OF THE PRAIRIE."
From a lithograph by Sandzén, the one difference is that the Olsson house had windows on the front, second floor.
Art work by Artist Sandzén, from the Deere Papers
Swedish Stone House Research
by
Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg
"A house of stone in the Smoky Valley lent an air of distinction to the homestead, for the country manor houses of the aristocracy in Sweden were often fashioned after the then-current French style, in stone, which the Swedish farmers sought to imitate."
-- Elizabeth Jaderborg
Captivated by the Swedish history of the Smoky Valley, the late (2016) Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg of English descent, originally from Maine, who married Swede Einer Jaderborg, writes the following from her 1981 TWO REPRINTS: Swedish Architectural Influence in the Kansas Smoky Valley Community on page 68 in the essay, Stone Houses found in the Smoky Valley: “The stone masons who came to the Smoky Valley from Sweden were skilled. They brought not only their know-how, but their tools as well,” such as a chisel and large wooden mallet... A house of stone in the Smoky Valley lent an air of distinction to the homestead, for the country manor houses of the aristocracy in Sweden were often fashioned after the then-current French style, in stone, which the Swedish farmers sought to imitate."
More specific to the Lindsborg founder Pastor Olof Olsson's stone house, Mrs. Jaderborg continues on page 72 in her essay, A Stone Parhus, The Olof Olsson Homestead,
"The house is made of huge, reddish-brown sandstone blocks and was covered with a layer of stucco around the turn of the century. Typically, there are two large rooms, separated by the front entrance, stairwell and walk-through closet to a rear chamber."
"The house is made of huge, reddish-brown sandstone blocks and was covered with a layer of stucco around the turn of the century. Typically, there are two large rooms, separated by the front entrance, stairwell and walk-through closet to a rear chamber."
Further, from a description from retired director of the Dialect and Folklore Institute in Uppsala, Folke Hedblom, she quotes him,
'I remember particularly the chimney. I think there were two chimney “pipes” leading from the ground floor through two storys. In the attic they were unified to one chimney putting through the roof. The arrangement was genuine Swedish.' …
She continues,
"Hedblom was referring to the 'wishbone chimney' where two chimneys originate, astraddle the staircase and are exposed in the downstairs rooms for added heat. Typically, the front entrance opens directly to the staircase... Upstairs there are two large rooms, Dr. Olsson’s study and a large bedroom... The staircase was placed exactly in the Swedish way and so was the construction of the inner walls [partitions]. The exterior walls of the home are at least a foot thick. They are hand hewn and chinked with smaller stones and mortar. The inside is of lath and plaster construction,..."
As the fourth and last Sohlberg Deere owner of this Swedish homestead, I have come to know the ruins of Swede House in detail, so I can say as an authority on Swede House that the above descriptions are very true of this structure. Thus, Dr. Olof Olsson's house and Swede House were "almost" identical in structure.
'I remember particularly the chimney. I think there were two chimney “pipes” leading from the ground floor through two storys. In the attic they were unified to one chimney putting through the roof. The arrangement was genuine Swedish.' …
She continues,
"Hedblom was referring to the 'wishbone chimney' where two chimneys originate, astraddle the staircase and are exposed in the downstairs rooms for added heat. Typically, the front entrance opens directly to the staircase... Upstairs there are two large rooms, Dr. Olsson’s study and a large bedroom... The staircase was placed exactly in the Swedish way and so was the construction of the inner walls [partitions]. The exterior walls of the home are at least a foot thick. They are hand hewn and chinked with smaller stones and mortar. The inside is of lath and plaster construction,..."
As the fourth and last Sohlberg Deere owner of this Swedish homestead, I have come to know the ruins of Swede House in detail, so I can say as an authority on Swede House that the above descriptions are very true of this structure. Thus, Dr. Olof Olsson's house and Swede House were "almost" identical in structure.
- The drawings below give one additional information on the "typical" structure of Swede House. -
- Swede House and three Swedes of Lindsborg -
Summer of 2009
Summer of 2009
For the
T H E S M O K Y V A L L E Y S W E D I S H P E O P L E' S V I R T U A L M E M O R I A L
click
on the Roman Arch
For
Peaceful Acres Smoky Valley descendant friends and helpers
~ honoring them and remembering them
go HERE
To return to SwedishAmericana, go HERE
For
Peaceful Acres Smoky Valley descendant friends and helpers
~ honoring them and remembering them
go HERE
To return to SwedishAmericana, go HERE
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NOTE
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2011
- Peaceful Acres -
- SOLD -
As a result of the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2007- 2008, Peaceful Acres was destined to be sold in late 2011. Thus, the plans for it to benefit the Smoky Valley people were not to be realized. Yet, it was worth trying, and in the projects themselves, they brought joy to those who helped me. So that, in itself, was very satisfying -- thus bringing the ownership of a beautiful piece of Swedish Kansas land to a good end, after 75 years of being in our family!
The new owners of Peaceful Acres were given all copies of the paperwork I had thus far completed with the Kansas Historical Society for restoration and preservation purposes, to help them pursue other avenues, if they so wished, to highlight this key theme of "Smoky Valley Swedish pioneer farming."
-------------------------
JUNE 2022
-------------------------
"Visually"
Almost Completed Perishing Way of Swedish Smoky Valley Farm Life Since 1873
due to the significant removal of the restored
Roman arch stone wall
NOTE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011
- Peaceful Acres -
- SOLD -
As a result of the "Global Financial Crisis" of 2007- 2008, Peaceful Acres was destined to be sold in late 2011. Thus, the plans for it to benefit the Smoky Valley people were not to be realized. Yet, it was worth trying, and in the projects themselves, they brought joy to those who helped me. So that, in itself, was very satisfying -- thus bringing the ownership of a beautiful piece of Swedish Kansas land to a good end, after 75 years of being in our family!
The new owners of Peaceful Acres were given all copies of the paperwork I had thus far completed with the Kansas Historical Society for restoration and preservation purposes, to help them pursue other avenues, if they so wished, to highlight this key theme of "Smoky Valley Swedish pioneer farming."
-------------------------
JUNE 2022
-------------------------
"Visually"
Almost Completed Perishing Way of Swedish Smoky Valley Farm Life Since 1873
due to the significant removal of the restored
Roman arch stone wall
Therefore, in conclusion, to my knowledge, this SWEDES' website dealing with the Swedish Homestead/Farmstead and Swede House, a close twin to the stone house belonging to the founder of Lindsborg and founder of Bethany Lutheran Church, Rev. Olof Olsson, is all that remains, as virtual, "memorializing symbols," the examples of pieces of significant Swedish pioneer farming history in the Smoky Valley.
* * *
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
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 © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
