Westphalia
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This farm ground was originally entered by John Mercersmith (Messersmith) on December 4, 1834.  The family came from Pennsylvania and is one of the families mentioned by Jetta Bruns as having been here and established when the Bruns family arrived in 1836.  The Messersmith family had 4 daughters and 2 sons.  At the time of the settlement of the John Messersmith Estate in 1859, the estate included the 160 acre farm, two adult slaves and 4 slave children, and the personal belongings of John Messersmith.  The estate went into the probate court in March of 1859 and all of the heirs sold the farm property to Herman Fecthel Sr. for a total price of $4,000.00 which included the slaves. 

This frame farmhouse has an interesting history.  It was par of a farm that was incorporated into Westphalia when it was surveyed in 1908 and boundaries established.  This property with the house was called Outlot #4 and was originally part of the Charles Huber 120 acre farm.  The Huber farm, later the Kleinsorge and Hoer farm was divided by them in 1875 into several parcels. By 1882, this was the home place for George and Mary Castrop.  Their son, August and his wife, Elizabeth Hoer Castrop moved into the family home and raised 9 children here. This farmhouse had a barn and outbuildings associated with it and the smoke house remains with the house. 

The house remained the home of the Castrop Family for almost 90 years before it was sold in 1970 to Arnold "Danny" and JoAnne Wilde who added the family room.  Daniel and Juliana Wieberg lived here from 1974 until 1978 when they sold it to Pam and Mike Knoll who added the breezeway and the attached garage.  The house ahs been improved with the addition of a modern bathroom on the first floor and a family room addition on the southeast corner.  This is a traditional "I" house of two stories with a rear service wing.  This house retains a wooden street front fence, a distinctive feature on West Mail Street.  The Dolan family purchased the home in 2001 from Tim and Jeanine Bock and have continued to make improvements.  They have completed the installation of a new composition shingle roof this fall.  The center hall of the house has been modified to provide space for the bathroom but otherwise, the rooms are basically the same size as before.  Be sure and ask about the recent discovery in the attic of the smoke house.

This house is located on ground originally entered in 1838 by a woman, Margareth Schroeder who was Charles Huber's mother-in-law.  Huber owned 200 acres immediately west of the Westphalia town site.  He began selling off portions of this farm as early as 1841 in small lots to Christian Boessen, Bartmann Brothers, and A.B. Bartmann before he sold his farm to Herman Kleinsorge in 1858 and moved north to near Lysletown.  Herman Kleinsorge sold land to Stephen Dickneite, John Brester and to August Kleinsorge (Hair Platz property) adjacent to the Bartmann Brothers property on Main Street and retained all of the unsold portion of the land east of the road to Shipley's Ferry for themselves.  All of that land was then sold in 1868 and 1869 to Dr. Franz Braecklein for $950 and it was further reduced in size when purchased by Stephen Bertels in 1875. 

Bertels sold this to Henry Borgmeyer in 1880 for $1,500.00 indicating that a house was on this property.  A small portion of this ground was sold by Henry Borgmeyer to Quirin Weistorf in 1888 for $1,200, which would indicate that a building existing on it at this time as well and Weistorf’s land would become Lot 42 when Westphalia was surveyed in 1908. Weistorf died in 1911 and this property was sold to Herman Hilkemeyer and his wife Katharina in 1912 for $3,500.00.  The Herman Hilkemeyer family continued to live there after Herman’s death in 1929 until the northern portion of this property was where the house was sold to Fred and Coletta Brunnert in 1945.  The Brunnerts sold it to Frank and Pauline Wegman in 1948.  It was finally sold by Pauline to Judy Howell in 1993.

The current house faces towards the west or to West Main Street but the house originally faced south toward the right of way of Linn Street.  This house was a full two story gable roofed house with a cat slide roof with the long side to the north and a walk out basement.  The house may have been frame or even fachwerk originally and contained two rooms in the basement and on the first and second floors, with one room under the sloping roof.  An addition was made to east end by the start of the 20^th century.

Under the ownership of the Wegman's, the 1880 house was extensively altered and rehabilitated into its present Cape Cod style, with the front turned facing west.  The attic roof and second floor were removed as was the part across the back.  Two new rooms were built on the north side of the original main floor and the large gable roof was constructed over all of these rooms. The house was sided with the new asbestos-cement shingles then in vogue.  You can still see evidence of the original stairs in the basement kitchen but the house has been rehabilitated and redecorated by the current owner, Judith Howell.  Judy has finished off the attic rooms to provide additional bedrooms and storage. The house has been sided with vinyl siding more in keeping with the style of the house.

This two story frame “I” house with a rear service wing was built in 1885 by John Sonnen.  August Werner
 married Gertrude Luekenhoff in 1879 and he and his brother-in-law owned and operated the Werner-Lueckenhoff store that was located immediately east of this home.  This is a classic vernacular Victorian Home that has a center side-lighted and transomed doorway flanked by a pair of windows on either side. Classical trim is used over the windows and decorative cut out trim is used along the eaves.  There is a distinctive heart shape cutout in the peak of the gables.  The house has a two room rear two story service wing to the north that contains a dining room and kitchen on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second.  The front part of the home has an open staircase in the center hall with one room on either side on each floor.

The house was purchased from the Werner family in 1990 by Sergio and Linda Fernandez who began a long rehabilitation process.  They added bathrooms and heat and air conditioning to the structure.  This home has been restored by the current owners who live here and operated as a bed and breakfast.  The rooms are nicely decorated and in great shape.  The yard is full of flower beds, garden space, patio and outbuildings.  Of special note is the outbuilding that served as the summer kitchen which has a food storage basement and a smoke house attached.  The warehouse for the former general store is still located in the rear yard, along Maries Avenue

You would not know it to see its setting today, but the two story frame house that is the John and Kerry Bax Family home is the old farm house of what was known as the “City View Stock Farm”.  This farm at one time contained the land that was the Nicholas Hesse Farm that was here when Dr. Bruns first visited the area.  Part of the ground had been owned by Christ Boessen and the Bartmann Brothers in the early period of Westphalia history.  It was the Henry Borgmeyer farm in the 1870’s and was sold to the Martin Bode family in 1884.  This land went north and west along the Maries River and was the site of the Bode Brick Yards in the 1890’s.  The farm was sold to Henry Schmidt in 1905 who was a Short Horn cattle breeder and who also raised Poland China hogs.  The parcel with the farmhouse and barn was incorporated into the city limits of Westphalia as Outlot #1 when the town was surveyed in 1908.  The Schmidts raised seven children in the house and was then owned by their son, Lawrence “Pater” Schmidt until he sold it to Ruth Schmidt ( a grand daughter of Henry Schmidt) and her husband Ambrose Bocklage.  The farm was sold to Ferdinand Lehman in 1996 and the house and lot was purchased by the Bax family in 1997.

The house dates from the 1880’s and is a classic "I" House with a center hallway with 5 front bays-(two windows on either side of the centered front door with side lights and transom).  The floor plan has two rooms on either side of the center hall with open stairs on both floors in the front block, with one room in the rear wing on each floor. The house also has a two story rear wing with an “L” shaped rear porch which has been enclosed. The house originally had a door in the center of the front façade onto a flat porch roof. 

The home of Chris and Angie Stuckenschneider is located 7 miles south of Westphalia along Highway 63.  In 1998, the Stuckenschneider’s purchased their first house and 40 acres from Vincent (Cotton) and Annie Redel.  They later sold that house to Mike and Gina Heckman and built this house on the remaining land in 2005.  This 3-bedroom, 2-bath, fresh farmhouse was framed by Chris Massman Construction; a lot of the finishing work was done by the home owners and family.  Inside, this home features natural and stained hardwood floors, porcelain tile, a rock fireplace, 15-17 ft. tall ceilings, and an open dormer.  It also features custom trim and cabinets of varying wood and colors by Wes Scheulen Cabinets.  Décor includes refinished antiques such as an early 1900’s thresher’s table in their dining room.  Outside, this home features rock, brick and concrete siding, an L-shaped raised porch, covered balcony, and stamped concrete.  

Ron and Donna Rehagen Home 
168 Sand Rock Trail