French chateau reminder of one-time active county industry By Cynthia Scheer Special to The Telescope A large French chateau built into the famed hills of Minersville sits dark and empty about 100 yards off Old 81. The inscription “C 1882 M” is chiseled in the dressed rock above the north front door. Another chiselled stone …
Erickson house was one of first built in the Scandia area By Cynthia Scheer www.thebellevilletelescope.com Special to the Telescope One of the first homes built in the Scandia area belonged to Andrew and Marie Erickson. The couple, who amassed a significant amount of land, according to historical reports, hired stonemasons from overseas to built their …
Families raised pigs, Brown Swiss dairy cows on remote southern Republic County farmstead By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com Dan Kuhn and his friend, Robert Nutsch, set off on foot through a deer hunter’s paradise on a warm, sunny February afternoon. They climbed over downed trees here and ducked under low hanging branches there. After …
Set in Stone: Ericson House – Jamestown Wildlife Area Read More »
135-year old Cuba Cash nearly unchanged since it was built By Cynthia Scheer Special to The Telescope www.thebellevilletelescope.com For 135 years the people of Cuba have been going to the same building for groceries. The building has seen a few owners through the years, and the interior has seen a little remodeling, but the outside …
Remnants of Courtland farm preserved for history By Cynthia Scheer – Special to the Telescope www.thebellevilletelescope.com The Anderson farm near Courtland may be gone, but several buildings from it have been saved, including a stone smokehouse moved to Belleville and part of a stone barn that serves as a main street gateway in Courtland. The …
Mystery surrounds Cuba-area’s old Lachman house By Cynthia Scheer – Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com The history of several of Republic County’s stone houses is unknown, and many locals say the people who would know anything about them are gone. Such is the case with the stone house Margaret Lachman refers to as “the original homestead.” The rural …
Stone house stays in Svoboda family for 130-year history Tucked behind a hill in a rural Cuba cattle pasture stands a stone house built in about 1885. The house, located several hundred yards off the road, has remained in the Svoboda family since it was built about 130 years ago. Trees have grown up around …
The Trost family didn’t hesitate when they got the chance to buy the land of the long-gone town of Minersville. Eldon and Tana Trost bought about 320 acres of the Cloud County side of the old mining property. Their son, Conrad Trost, bought the adjoining place in 1992. The Trosts’ land came with grazing pasture, …
I have been having a wonderful time digging up the history on limestone houses in the area. I’ve been devoting a lot of time to the project since Christmas as I try to finish up some of these houses I’ve been working on for a year. I never liked history in school, but I’m loving …
Set in Stone: Behind the Scenes / Quest for stone houses continues Read More »
Siblings childhood home shares limestone DNA with Cuba Cash By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com Bob Trecek and his sister, Joan Holmberg, don’t know when their family home was built. Much of the early history surrounding the two-story, flat-roofed stone home is a mystery, the pair said. The Treceks do know that the house was …
Four generations of Lundblades have called Kackley stone house home By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com The year was about 1870, and Charles Fredrick Lundblade had just arrived near Kackley in a covered wagon with his wife and 12 children. Lundblade, a native of Sweden, had been working at a stone quarry in Missouri when …
Barn near Wayne is older than the railroad By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com Stanley Krohn spent many boyhood hours playing in the hay mow of an old stone barn located south of Wayne. The now-74-year-old Wayne-area man said he didn’t think much about the barn’s uniqueness at the time, though he has grown to …
A tale of two houses Wohlforts kept expanding their farmstead of stone south of Scandia By Cynthia Scheer – Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com A thirty-something Swedishman and his 14-year-old wife settled about 150 years ago on a piece of land about a mile south of Scandia. Thure Wohlfort and Louise Erickson Wohlfort established a 600-acre farm complete …
Olson family has owned limestone house near Courtland for entire 139 year history By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News European houses made of stone are 400-500 years old, Larry Olson said, so the fact that the estimated 139-year-old house he owns near Ada Lutheran Church is still in good shape shouldn’t be an impressive feat. The …
‘Hottest in the summer, and coldest in the winter’ Stone house sheltered Larson through childhood, early marriage By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News Eldon Larson said he remembers his childhood home as being cold and small. The one-and-a-half-story “simple rock house” had a “company” door on the south side that almost no one used and a …
By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com Hidden off the road – and the beaten path – behind trees and crop fields is the Hanson House, a three-room stone house that has been handed down through family for four generations. It is unknown when the house, which is located north of Kackley, was built, but Frank …
Underground mysteries Arched-ceiling cellars are tribute to early masons By Deb Hadachek Telescope editor www.thebellevilletelescope.com It’s the architecture underground that draws Jack Hofman to Republic County. The archaeology professor at the University of Kansas digs regularly into the soil at the Pawnee Indian Village State Historic Site at Republic to undercover the round earth lodges …
Early builders carved their names in stone for future legacy By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebelevilletelescope.com Beverly Kunc said she “had always heard” that there was a stone house with a plaque above the door that was built by her great-great-grandfather, Paul Svoboda. It took her several years to realize that the house was only …
Rural Courtland landmark also called ‘old cheese factory’ By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News In Republic County’s southwest corner there is an old, falling down stone house and barn that sets along a well-traveled blacktop road. To some, the property is known as “the old cheese factory.” To others the property is referred to as “the …
‘Scotch Castle’ built by elite Minersville family By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News www.thebellevilletelescope.com Minersville was once home to two stone castles: The French Chateau of Charles Murray, and the 1878-built Scotch Castle of Alexander Henderson. The Hendersons, who came from Scotland, were prominent miners lived in a still-visible dugout until Alexander Henderson built the family a …
Set in Stone: Scotch Castle / French Chateau – Minersville Read More »
Little history remains of iconic house north of Cuba By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News Very little is written about the “Shimek place.” Locals with connections to the stone house, which is located about three miles north of Cuba, know little about the property and refer questions to the 1975 limestone publication “Land of The Post …
From The Belleville Telescope – June 8, 2016 – By Cynthia Scheer Telescope News It’s called the old Seapo Mill. It was once a state-of-the-art steam flour mill. More than three decades ago it underwent an estimated $250,000 rennovation as it was transformed into a dream home for a well-to-do Alaskan. The longtime-empty home with broken …
Herrman House a tribute to Swedish immigrant’s success Set in Stone is a periodic Telescope feature recording the history of limestone landmarks in Republic County. Cynthia Scheer The Belleville Telescope Claes Herrman came to the United States in the 1860s as a poor man. He didn’t even know how to farm. But he learned how …
