Last Updated February 6, 2003
by John Jenkins

This is how we look today.

This is how we looked in the early 1900s.
Dan & Patty Olson: The Granary (Elm Grove Farm)

Louis and Matilda Wurst in 1888, great-grandparents of Dan Olson, established Elm Grove Farm. The granary was built in 1888. Used primarily for housing grain and horses, this building was also the lodging of Louis and Matilda before the house was built. For a period of ten years, the granary was used for annual dances that were held upstairs, while the downstairs was used for the eating area. After the barn was built, the granary became a favorite place to hold poker games and cold liquid refreshments. After many years of valuable service for grain storage, the building became the home of "The Granary" - a picture framing and gift shop.

The barn was built in 1909, by family members and neighbors in a "raising bee" setting as was the tradition a century ago. It became a center of lively barn dances for many years. An interesting story that was told about one particular barn dance was an "outside" decided to crash the party. The large man, who had i\his fill of beer became quite unruly. Grandfather Louis, who was of small stature - but packed a big punch, approached the man and asked him to leave. After a slight scuffle, Grandpa "leveled" him to the ground and then assisted him to his carriage and sent him on his way home. As can be seen in the hay loft, the barn was built with hand sawn beams and put together with mortise and tenon joints that has weathered many windy days as well as heavy snowstorms. The building is currently being used as a woodworking shop and storage area. It is hopeful that we can remodel the building for future barn dances once again.

Many area farmers built the cheese factory in 1896. This building originally sat at the corner of 240th and County Road X on our farm. Farmers in the neighborhood would haul their milk in cans pulled with horses to "Elm Grove Cheese Factory" to have their milk made into cheese. My grandfather, Oscar Olson, a cheese maker at Elm Grove, was the Wisconsin State Champion Cheese Maker in 1926. His nearly perfect score of 95.5 was tops among many fine cheese makers. The grand prize cup is located in The Granary Shop in his memory. Previous to becoming a cheese maker, he served our country as a World War I soldier. Today the building is used for storage and for housing the sheep and horse. We hope to restore this building in the near future.

Of all the building on the farm, the smokehouse is what people admire the most. Located near the house, the smokehouse was built in 1917. It was used to smoke and cure the farm-raised meat for many decades. Today the building used as a garden shed.

The well house was built in 1896. It served as the milk huse until the early 50's. The original milk can vat that stored the milk for cooking is still housed in the building. The well house was named because it was situated right next to the well that was powered by a windmill. We hope to add another windmill near this building in the future. Today the well house is used to store overflow goods as well as gardening supplies as part of The Granary Gift Shop.

It has been a lot of hard work to upkeep and restore many of the buildings and yard work that is typical on an old farm. But we feel it is an honor to be associated with a great farming family tradition. As we walk through our old buildings we feel as though we are back to the turn of the century. We hope that by saving and restoring these old buildings, our family as well as others will be able to share and appreciate our past generations that helped to build this great country.