-Farm News photo by Doug Clough
The Dreeszen family, from left to right, are Artie, 3 months, Alyssa, their dog Barbie, and Adam. Their farm home is currently under renovation.

CUSHING — On the northwest corner of Ida County lies the Rolling Acres Century Farm, currently under renovation by Adam and Alyssa Dreeszen.

“The original house was built in 1900, and there was a different family who lived here originally,” said Adam Dreeszen. “My great-grandpa Rudolph Dreeszen purchased the farm with the house on it in 1919, so as of 2019, we’ve been a century farm. Rudolph’s son, my grandpa Elvie Dreeszen, added on to the original house in the 1950s. My parents Roger and Mary added the garage and kitchen addition in the mid-1990s.”

Dreeszen is currently near the end of the deconstruction phase, having hauled away 14 wagon loads weighing two tons each to the landfill, some of it from the original brick chimney. Total renovation is up next. Little things have driven him crazy, such as sub-floors that don’t level up with other sections of the home. Original wiring from the 1900s through the 1940s and ’50s has had to be stripped out and replaced.

The older style rounded archways also had to go.

“Having grown up in this house, I knew right away that the archways were not tall enough,” said Dreeszen. “Earlier Dreeszens were all 5-feet, 8 inches and shorter, and I found myself crouching at every transition to another room,” stated the 6-foot-6-inch Dreeszen. “There will be new 9-foot header frames for each of those transitions, one requiring extra work because it’s a load-bearing wall.”

-Submitted photo
This is how the farmhouse looked prior to any renovations performed by any of the Dreeszen lineage. Artifacts found during the current renovation suggest that the G.H. Ritz family built the original home.

The original lathe and plaster walls kept layers of both loose and solid insulation — likely containing the now-banned substance asbestos — in place behind most of the walls downstairs and every wall upstairs. The entire set of stairs leading to the second floor is getting replaced, as every step is cracked.

Dreeszen points out walls that were the original exterior prior to additions being made; changes in flooring are one of the clues. But he also has seen evidence of the author of an iteration — his grandpa Elvie. Dreeszen was born in 1989, so he never met his grandpa Elvie Dreeszen, who passed away in 1986; the complex act of renovating the 105-year-old farmhouse, however, has brought the pair together.

“He signed his name on this stud and dated it 1954,” said Dreeszen. “It’s been 70 years ago to this year that we both found ourselves working on this home. We share the same birthday, Aug. 7. We were both 34 years old when we started our renovation. Sometimes, the universe just lines up in ways that gives you goosebumps.”

Elvie Dreeszen was one of Wallace’s Farmer Master Farmers in the 1960s after investing in conservation farming with terraces, contours, and grass waterways, and was diversified with hogs and cattle. He was also a one-term state senator. “I take on big projects like Elvie did,” said Dreeszen. “I try to be a leader. We’re bound by more than just our birth dates.”

More artifacts were found in the upstairs ceiling: a note written in German from 1912, an invitation to an ice cream and cake social, and a 1913 bank receipt for a payment to Mongomery Ward. Two of the documents include the last name Ritz, leaving Dreeszen to speculate that the first owners may have been Mr. and Mrs. G.H. Ritz.

-Farm News photo by Doug Clough
“Grandpa Elvie signed his name on this stud and dated it 1954,” said Dreeszen. “It’s been 70 years ago to this year that we both found ourselves working on this home. We share the same birthday, Aug. 7. We were both 34 years old when we started our renovation.”

The Dreeszens hope to have the renovation completed by late winter.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to stay away from giving a solid completion date,” said Dreeszen. “Realistically, it would be great to have this project all buttoned up by planting season.”