Reimer House - 1878

100 0673Built in 1878, this log house is a typical Mennonite home moved from the nearby village of Hochfeld. 

It was 140 years old in 2018 and the inside chambered ceiling and detailing on the outside of the window frames is worth noting, as is the dovetail log construction at the outside corners of the house.

The house was lived in until approx.  1980 (family history below), shortly after which it was moved to the Pembina Threshermen's Museum.

 

PTM Reimer house ol truck 2

The photographs in the entry include when the Reimer family lived here and some show the house in it's early days.  Note: a barn was attached to the east side of the house and although the barn no longer remains, the east door in the kitchen would have led to it.    

Occupants

Great-grandparents: Peter & Maria (Ginter) Fehr 

Grandparents: Isaac & Elizabeth (Friesen) Fehr 

Parents: Frank C. & Margaret (Fehr) Reimer 

Children: Annie, Nettie, Cornelius, Margaret & Frank 

The Reimer house was originally built by Peter and Maria Fehr in approx. 1878-1879. Later, Isaac and wife Elizabeth (Friesen) Fehr owned the house and their second daughter, Margaret (Fehr) and her husband Frank C. Reimer, lived with her parents until they moved out in 1957. 

Margaret and Frank continued to live in this house with their children (Annie, Nettie, Cornelius, Margaret and Frank) until 1980, at which time most of the children had moved out and the house was donated to the Pembina Threshermen’s Museum.  

House Details

The main entrance was located at the far south of the house and entered the kitchen area from Spring through Fall. In winter, however, the entry was on the east side through a narrow breezeway between the house and barn. The north door led outside to the summer kitchen and outhouse and this room was used at the parents’ bedroom. 

The kitchen was the largest room in the house and the hub of activity. Before electricity, the house was heated by wood burning stoves and then oil heaters. Electricity came to Hochfeld in 1951 and the refrigerator that is presently in the southeast corner is original to this house. The actual cooking area was on the north side between the parents’ bedroom and the pantry and a furnace and fireplace were in the northwest corner. In the middle of the room was a large table where many meals, conversations and games happened. Baths were also taken in the kitchen in a large metal tub that was brought in. 

When the house was lived in by the Fehr family, there was a small “boys” room in the southeast corner and a small square piece of wood can be seen on the ceiling that covers a “smoke” hole. 

The door in the northeast corner led upstairs to the attic, which was used as storage as well as for hanging hams in the summer. 

The pantry shelves on the west side of the house were used for home canned foods and other non-perishable items and the large white bin was for four. The cream separator was kept in this room as well. The hatch to the basement cellar (which was used for cool storage, potatoes, onions and carrots) was on the floor under the stairs that led to the attic and the wooden latch on the side of the stairs was used to hold the hatch door open.  

The living room was used more when company came over and mostly for adults, although this is also where Grandma stayed when she lived with the family.             

During the time that the Reimers lived in the house, up to four children slept in the bedroom with curtains hung from the beams to separate them and provide some privacy. PTM Reimer House Adeline

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