The hog house also incorporates an old railroad building in its construction. The latter
appears to be a freight house and may have been moved to this spot from the nearby rail
line or from a stop in Manning along this route. The Audubon branch of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul was abandoned in 1936; therefore, the building might have been
moved c.1936 (Erwin Hansen, personal communication 1997).
The only other outbuilding is a double corncrib built in 1943 by Chris Pfoltner and,
therefore, postdates the period of significance for the Leet-Hassler farmstead.
A review of the property abstract for the farmstead would suggest that the house and
garage were likely constructed during the building season of 1916 since Leet did not
obtain title to the property until November of 1915, a date that would have been too late in
the season to pour concrete and complete masonry work.
The abstract also indicates that by July 1916, the Leets were needing electricity out to
the property,
and by October 1916 they were in need of a $30,000 mortgage on the
property, perhaps to pay for the house and garage? However, by December 1916, the
Leet's marriage was crumbling, with a divorce petition filed that month. The divorce was
granted in November 1917, with Ann awarded a sizable settlement. Two months later, in
January 1918, the property was deeded to Fred Hassler. As noted above, the inscribed
date in the barn is "1917;" therefore, the barn was built while the property was still
officially owned by Leet but was likely built under the direction of Fred Hassler, who was
managing the farm operation for Leet. It is not known exactly when Hassler began
occupying the house on this property, whether it was before or after January 1918, but he
and his wife, Glenna, and their children definitely were living in the house between 1918
and 1936 when they sold the farm and moved into Manning.
Summary of information