Getting Some Money

The new committee, OSHA - knew we had to figure out what needed to be done, paint a picture of how the future could look and then find the money to do the work.

We called in Renaissance Restoration to give us an estimate on how to fix the outside first. We knew we needed some tuckpointing, basement floor joists fixed, some masonry work. They had been recommended by the State Historical Society. Terry Cole came on out and gave us his bid. It's important to know that if you are doing historical restoration, and you want grant money, you need to use a recommended provider. The work has to be done by hand (like when they built it) and ideally use local materials.

Keri and Deb wrote a grant requesting $40,574 to the State Historical Society of Iowa, Historical Resource Development Program. I don't think anyone believed they would actually get the grant.

But get it they did! Here's just a few parts of that grant.


1) Specifically identify the historical resource and state its significance:
The Leander Reeve House (also know as The Old Stone House) was built in 1854 by Leander Reeve for his wife who it was said would not move from Ohio until she had a 'proper house'. The stone came from nearby Maynes Creek, the walnut timbers in the cellar came from nearby Maynes Grove. The floor plan has never been altered.

The house is a 2 story structure with seven rooms, complete with full basement, two bedrooms on the second floor and a pantry just off the kitchen. The dimensions are approximately 26' x 32'. The foundation and exterior walls are of rubble limestone. The front gable roof, reshingled in 1962, has a rather shallow pitch, and narrow wooden cornices. A single chimney is centered on the roof ridge. It's location is at the corner of Raven and 105th St, 2 miles West of Geneva.

It was the first permanent structure built in Franklin county and the oldest still in existence. The Leander Reeve House is truly a living history home of the 1850's. It is used by school and youth groups, families for reunions and other adult organizations. Here is where our children have an unique opportunity to visit, work, eat and maybe one day sleep in a real pioneer home.

2) provide an overview Of the activities you will complete
We have received a bid from Renaissance Restoration whose work will meet the U.S. Secretary of Interiors Standards for Rehabilitation. They have over 20 years of masonry restoration experience with both brick and stone. Their masonry craftsmen have been trained by US Heritage in lime putty mortar and masonry repairs. We have attached said bid, as it qualifies for our budget, for your perusal. We have broken down the project into subsections. They are:

Exterior Masonry Restoration
Exterior Mortar Joints all 4 elevations. ..$ 34,534.00
Re-Caulk Exterior Doors and Windows........$ 2,885.00
New Gutters and Downspouts ................$ 5,680.00
Repair Deteriorated Basement
Floor Joist, Door Sills and Thresholds.....$ 2,860.00
Interior Basement Wall Mortar Joints
All 4 Elevations.........................$ 14,150.00

The picture is Joe, Darwin and Terry Cole.

Preserving Our Past

In 1979 the original Committee to restore the Old Stone House took a building whose Southeast wall had fallen away exposing the building and rebuilt it into a building they could be proud of. They made sure it was listed on the Historical Register as well. The years have passed, and much work remains to be done.

First, a little history:
Leander Reeve traveled from Ashtabula County, in the Northeast County of Ohio on Lake Erie to the prairies of Northern Iowa. He met up with his brother James who was living in a sod house and was the first white man to live in the county. They broke ground and began farming.

Leander wanted to bring his wife and family out, but needed to build her a proper house! In 1852 they started to build the Old Stone House and completed it in 1854. Limestone from the area was used and a proper house with 4 bedrooms, a full basement and a bathroom outside was built. He brought his family out that year.

Since then 15 other families have lived in that house, the last living there in 1954. The Old Stone House is believed to be the only one still standing between here and the Mississippi. It holds a place in Iowa history – and we in Franklin County are proud to have it here.

A new committee has been formed. The Old Stone House Association, affiliated with the Franklin County Historical Society. The committee members are Darwin Meyer, Joe Pitsor, Keri Holmes and Deb Brown. Advisors are Jeff Burkley and Paul Wuhlbrandt. (Darwin, Joe and Jeff pictured)

The Backstory

In the 1880’s news of the fertile soil, excellent timberlands and rivers of the Midwest was sent to eastern United States and across the ocean to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, England and Ireland. Because of political upheaval, military service, religious persecution, poverty and restlessness, many people began looking for a new life. In 1833 white easterners and immigrants began pouring across the Mississippi River into Iowa. Land could be purchased for $1.25 an acre from the Government.

In April 1853, Leander Reeve came by train from Ashtubula County, Ohio, to the end of the line in Rockford, Illinois. He then traveled by stagecoach to the end of its route at Galena, Illinois. From then on he walked to Franklin County to find his brother, James, who was living with Mr. and Mrs. John Mayne in a log cabin which was located where the During farm is now, about ½ mile west of the Stone House on the north side of the road. This was the first and only cabin in Franklin County at the time.

After doing some trapping, he took over the parcel of land where the Stone House sits from Allison Phelps, who had claimed it the previous year. He broke 10 acres of this prairie sod east of the house. Prairie sod had thick matted interwoven roots two feet deep that hadn’t been disturbed for 8,000 years. In Illinois sixteen years earlier, in 1837, John Deere had invented a plow with a steel mould board that was needed to turn this sod. Strong oxen were better able to pull a plow than horses. Perhaps Leander had such a plow. Any provisions and supplies had to be gotten from Cedar Falls or Janesville by foot or by horse and wagon.

Leander then went back to Ohio and the following spring of 1854 he returned and built the Stone House. The stone surely came from Maynes Creek nearby. The walnut timbers in the cellar on which axe marks are still visible surely came from Maynes Grove. This house must have been elegant for this area as most others were log cabins. Soon many came to Maynes Grove, the first settlement of Franklin County. They conducted church services in cabins, had the first courthouse in James Reeve’s cabin and a sixteen-year-old girl, Octavia Smith, taught the first class of children in the county.

Except for the Mesquakies at Tama, very few Indians or buffalo were seen in Iowa after 1854. Leander brought his family here in 1854 but his wife could never like Iowa, she longed for more civilized life in Ohio. So they went back for good three years later. Leander’s wife apparently had household help as Marion Boots of Dumont says her grandmother walked from Four Mile Grove to work in the Reeve home.

Simeon Carter bought the house and farm from the Reeves. In 1859, four years after the Stone House was built, D. W. Dow, a young lawyer, came to Hampton, which had acquired 75 residents, 20-25 homes and several businesses. He set up a law office in Hampton House but had only one client that summer, who paid him in watermelons. So he had to carpenter and then taught school in the Maynes Grove settlement. Here he met Simeon Carter’s daughter and they were married in the Stone House. Her wedding dress is in the Franklin County Museum. They were the third residents in the house, followed by about 13 more families. The list is on the north wall of the house. None of the house’s contents were ever owned by those who occupied it.The floor plan has never been altered.