Schumacher Farmhouse

Henry Schumacher owned this property for fifteen years before he decided to make this a working farm. In 1906, he hired a local carpenter named Frank Schwenn to design and build this farmhouse, one of only two original buildings still standing. In 1908, Henry got married and settled down to build a life on these forty acres.

Schwenn built the two-story farmhouse in a cruciform shape with four rooms on each level. The first floor held the kitchen, dining room, parlor and a bedroom. The second floor held four bedrooms. The windows, trim and other details were simple and functional. The total cost to build the house was $5,000.

According to Marcella, the lawn surrounding the farmhouse consisted of: “blue grass sprinkled with weeds and mowed only by grazing cattle, horses, or sheep.” To protect the soft lawn from the damaging hooves of the farm animals, the Schumachers erected a fence around the house. They also placed a fence along the road to spare their yard from damage caused by animals being driven to market in Waunakee along what is now Highway 19.

Marcella Schumacher Pendall lived in this house until her death in 1993. Since then, the Friends of Schumacher Farm Park have worked to restore and maintain the farmhouse as it may have looked like in the 1920s. Many of the items inside the house are original to Schumacher farm.