Housing costs of yesterday

Brookings County Now & Then

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You can buy a 2x4 piece of l2-foot lumber today for about $6.50, give or take a few pennies. 

On May 29, 1879, Peter Haas, who pioneered in the Volga area, bought 10 pieces of the same lumber size from the Laird, Norton and Company lumberyard in Goodwin east of Watertown for less than seven cents each.

His 2x4s measured two inches by four inches while today’s $6.50 of 2x4s are actually 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches. 

And truth be known, Peter Haas’ seven-cent pieces of 12-foot lumber intended for his homestead shanty in 1879 were actually quite expensive.

I’m not knocking the current price of 2x4s. I’m just pointing out how times have changed from then to now.

I thought about Peter Haas after reading a full-color advertisement in an area newspaper in which a Realtor was hawking a $1,525,000 home on 20 acres of land.

The Realtor referred to the home as a “farm cottage.” Peter Haas is probably slapping a knee over that one. 

The home had more than 7,000 square feet, an Italian Bocce ball court (more knee slapping) and a “big red barn with a concrete floor.” 

In 1879, Peter Haas took a few days off from breaking a few of his 160 acres and hitched plodding oxen, Pete and Luke, to a rattling old wagon and headed for Goodwin.

At two miles an hour, it was a trip of several days. 

The little town of Goodwin in Deuel County had been platted the year before Haas’ long trip. It’s still there.

On the trip Haas slept in or under the wagon. At Goodwin he loaded his 2x4s and other building supplies and headed Pete and Luke back home to Brookings County.

The bill of sale was tucked into his pocket when he left Goodwin and it was still around when a relative found it in Peter’s home several years ago and gave it to the Brookings County Museum in Volga. 

In all, Haas bought those 12-foot 2x4s for 67 cents, eight more 14-footers for 75 cents and another batch for 64 cents. He also bought some roofing boards that came to $8.88, and some wooden shingles. 

For the shanty door he also bought a pair of “strap hinges” for a quarter a thumb latch for 15 cents and 90 cents for a little piece of window glass to let the sunshine in.

His Laird, Norton and Company bill came to $19.65. 

He didn’t have the cash, so worked out a deal with the lumberyard, paying off over the next 12 months. 

After Haas got back to his farm, he built a 10- by 16-foot shanty. Around the outside walls of his home he laid sod as insulation, and he packed down the home’s floor with clay. 

Eventually, the Goodwin lumber and Brookings County sod siding kept a family of six cool in the summer and warm in the cold months. 

Unlike the $1.5 million house for sale last month, it didn’t have a bocce court.  

I’d take a little beam of sunshine through a 6- by 6-inch pane of glass over an Italian bocce court any day. 

If you’d like to comment, email the author at cfcecil@swiftel.net.