Our Yesterday House
Located next to the Spirit Town Hall at W1316 State Hwy. 86, Brantwood, WI (in the town of Spirit)
Albin Johnson was born on August 2, 1856 in Sweden. He came to America in 1881 at the age of 25, first settling in Merrill, Wisconsin and then in Spirit, Wisconsin. He filed for a homestead and built the “Yesterday House” with his future wife’s uncle, Amandus Johnson in 1885. He married Hilma Amelia Olson in 1887. Albin and Hilma had 7 children (6 boys and a girl), the first 2 being born in the “Yesterday House”, namely: Arthur G. Johnson on February 22, 1888 and Anne Marie Johnson on March 12, 1891. In 1964 the house was purchased by Gene A. Meier. In 1973 Gene’s father Roy Meier moved the Albin Johnson log home to the Meier homestead on County YY and turned it into a museum. Until his death in 1997, Roy maintained the log home and museum. In 2003 the historic log home was moved to its present location and donated to German Settlement History, Inc. where it is furnished much like it would have been in 1885.
The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Construction of ‘Our Yesterday House’
Amandus Johnson used the Swedish log construction technique to build this house in 1885. Unlike the well known ‘chinked’ log cabins, these were built more like a ship. Logs are formed with concave bottom and convex top then fitted together without chinking. Corners of the building are dovetailed. It is estimated that lifting a single log into place would take five strong men! Thus, the Swedish log construction was a difficult process. For this reason, men from the settlement came together to build homes where families were able to stay warm in the harsh Wisconsin winters.
Our new machine shed constructed in the summer of 2023, is still in the finishing process.
