The Gehl-Mittelsted farmstead is located in San Francisco Township of Carver County, near Belle Plaine, Minnesota. The site is now in the possession of the United States Department of the Interior, as part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR). The MVNWR has erected an interpretive/visitors center just uphill from the original Gehl-Mittelsted farmstead. Signs guide you to the area from the Jonathon-Carver Parkway.
The entrance road to the site takes you over the Carver bluffs and down sharply toward the Minnesota River. You can park at the interpretive center and walk down a blacktop path to the original farmstead. The barn is gone, but the fieldstone base it stood on is still there. However, the Gehl-Mittelsted farmhouse dominates the view, and what a spectacular Chaska brick farmhouse it is!
The house was built on an area of higher terrain right next to the Minnesota River. Of course, what quickly comes to mind is river flooding, and what this family did when the Minnesota River hit some of its historic highs. According to several sources I have come across, it only had water near its main level twice. This is really amazing. I can’t imagine living that close to the river.
The house itself is still in fantastic shape as far as the brick is concerned. The roofing is another story. The caretakers have placed tarps over the roof segments to prevent any further damage to the inside. Of course, visitors cannot see what the inside looks like, so I’m sure it is not in too good of shape. The Gehl-Mittelsted farmstead was named to the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota’s top 10 most endangered sites of 2006. According to the Preservation Alliance’s web site, the MVNWR have no plans to restore it. This is no surprise, due to the massive costs involved. Yet, as of November 2009, it is still there.
The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota stated that the house was originally built by Henry and Christina Gehl in the middle 1880s. The Gehls were a wealthy German immigrant farm family. Wealth is evident in this farmstead, even down to the outhouse. The outhouse was built even closer to the Minnesota River than the house. It was also built of Chaska brick and looked very extravagant. However, you can see how the settlers in the 1880s thought nothing of draining their outdoor toilets right into their water source. That led to many epidemics of typhoid fever, until they learned this was not a good practice.
For those Chaska brick fans out there, I highly recommend this site. This is one of the largest Chaska brick houses I have seen and the surrounding country still appears like it did back in the 1880s. That is hard to find these days, with the metro area expanding to the southwest!
The house itself is still in fantastic shape as far as the brick is concerned. The roofing is another story. The caretakers have placed tarps over the roof segments to prevent any further damage to the inside. Of course, visitors cannot see what the inside looks like, so I’m sure it is not in too good of shape. The Gehl-Mittelsted farmstead was named to the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota’s top 10 most endangered sites of 2006. According to the Preservation Alliance’s web site, the MVNWR have no plans to restore it. This is no surprise, due to the massive costs involved. Yet, as of November 2009, it is still there.
The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota stated that the house was originally built by Henry and Christina Gehl in the middle 1880s. The Gehls were a wealthy German immigrant farm family. Wealth is evident in this farmstead, even down to the outhouse. The outhouse was built even closer to the Minnesota River than the house. It was also built of Chaska brick and looked very extravagant. However, you can see how the settlers in the 1880s thought nothing of draining their outdoor toilets right into their water source. That led to many epidemics of typhoid fever, until they learned this was not a good practice.
For those Chaska brick fans out there, I highly recommend this site. This is one of the largest Chaska brick houses I have seen and the surrounding country still appears like it did back in the 1880s. That is hard to find these days, with the metro area expanding to the southwest!
