Garage....or maybe more?

 On the sidebar of this very blog you see picture of the both the barn and the house.  We know the barn was built in 1889 and our we fairly certain the house was built in 1903.  To me this time differential doesn't make sense.  Why would the homesteaders build the barn 14 years before the house?  That seems backward.

The answer might be right under our noses: the garage.  Old hardwood floors, a cellar door, and chimney.  This was likely the homesteaders original one-room house.  Wood was, as it is now, expensive and Nebraska in 1889 was not covered with trees so they had to save up and wait to build the house we live in now.  Cool, huh?

1889 Fun Facts

Honoring the barn's birth year here are some 1889 Fun Facts for Friday.

Jan. 1     The year starts on a Tuesday
Jan. 15   Coca-Cola is incorporated in Atlanta, GA
Feb. 22  Four states added to Union: both Dakotas, Washington and Montana
Apr 16  American actor Charlie Chapman is born
Apr 20  German dictator Adolf Hitler is born
Mar 4    Benjamin Harrison becomes 23rd president of United States
May 6   Eiffel Tower opens in Paris
June 8  Wall Street Journal is established
Oct 8    Moulin Rouge opens in Paris
Nov 21 Gustav Mahler's first symphony, "The Titan" is premiered.
Dec 6   Jefferson Davis dies

Nothing interesting to note in Nebraska history that I can find in 1889.  The marching band at the University was founded in 1879 and the football program was founded in 1890.  Our barn is older than our state's most important commodity!