In this edition: 166th Birthday of the State of Oregon, Library Display Cabinet – Early Dairies of Garden Home, Dairies of Garden Home

Hello to our Garden Home History Friends – We have been a bit under the weather but Happy New Year! And Happy Valentine’s Day! And Happy Oregon for its 166^th Birthday!

As soon as the snow melts, we’ll have our next Garden Home Historical Display in our Garden Home Library, all about the major Dairies in Garden Home. The complete stories and photos are on our website.

To become a subscriber, email us at GardenHomeHistory@gmail.com and include your Postal mailing address, or call Marie Pacella at 503-244-5758. To unsubscribe, reply with unsubscribe in the subject line.

166th Birthday of the State of Oregon

This excerpt from a 1859 letter from Delazon Smith to his wife tells the story of Oregon’s statehood:

My Dear Wife: — Senate Chamber Washington, D.C. Feb’y. 14th, 1859 The long and painful agony is over! Oregon is a state within this glorious Union!! After a long and desperate struggle we have most gloriously triumphed! This day — in the presence of a vast assemblege [sic] of people of all ages and both sexes, congregated to witness the ceremony — Gen [Joseph] Lane and myself took the oath of office and our seats in the Senate of the United States of America.

We were admitted by a majority of only eleven (11) votes. But this answered all purposes. The question of admission was debated three full days with very great ability. I have ordered twelve thousand copies of the speeches for distribution in Oregon. When the Bill passed there was loud applause both on the floor of the House and in the galaries [sic]. At night a vast multitude of people, with bands of music, paraded the streets of the city, serenading the Oregon Delegation — the President and Vice President of the United States, &c, &c. I have never witnessed such unbounded enthusiasm and rejoicing in all my life. Everybody seemed to rejoice. Having been previously exhausted and quite worn down with labor and anxiety — I left my room where hundreds called to congratulate me on the most happy and triumphant result.

To read the full letter, visit The Oregon Historical Society Quarterly from 2009. Thank you to the Oregon Historical Society for highlighting this letter in a recent member emailing.

Library Display Cabinet – Early Dairies of Garden Home

As of February 18, 2025, we’ve updated the Library Display Cabinet to feature the Early Dairies of Garden Home.

Library Display Cabinet Feb 2025 – Full cabinet

Library Display Cabinet Feb 2025 – Top shelf

Library Display Cabinet Feb 2025 – Middle shelf

Library Display Cabinet Feb 2025 – Bottom shelf

Dairies of Garden Home

Alpenrose Dairy milking barn

Alpenrose Dairy historic panorama

Peter Gertsch driving a Shattuck Dairy wagon

Shattuck Dairy – hay derrick in field

Shattuck Dairy – barnyard, milk wagons, log road

1905, Von Bergens: Magdelana, Andreas holding Frieda, Ida and Elsie standing and Andreas parents.
Courtesy Richard Roth and Madeline Benner. See Andreas and Magdelana Von Bergen Dairy.

Dairies were a major part of the Garden Home economy in the first half of the twentieth century. Farmers from Switzerland felled trees for their homes, barns, and corrals.  They knew that dairy cows could forage among the stumps, often called stump farms, for adequate food to support their supply of milk.

Remember Garden Home!

Read more about the early Garden Home dairies on our website: Dairies of Garden Home.

• At one point, the Alpenrose Dairy had between 80 and 100 Shetland ponies that would be taken to grocery stores for pony rings and wagon rides.
• “Dog milk” was sold at the Schallberger Dairy.
• The grand child heard scary noises at night from the attic on the Von Bergen Dairy.
• The Marugg dairy barn at the Garden Home Dairy was the local hangout for the local Garden Home kids. What were they doing?
• At the Fanno Creek Dairy, the German family operating the dairy experienced prejudice during World War II.
• At the Shattuck Dairy, when Peter Gertsch died six weeks after the birth of his baby, the family sent to Switzerland for the brother to come marry the widow.

Discover Garden Home!

Let us know what you’ve discovered! Send it to Elaine, our editor, at GardenHomeHistory@gmail.com.

Volunteer and make friends

New people might enjoy research, do interviews, visit special Garden Home sites, write stories for the website, help with the History corner displays, and so much more! Call Patsy VandeVenter at 971-275-0307 or Esta Mapes at 503-246-5758. Board meetings are usually at 4:30-6:00 pm on the second Monday of the month, and open to the public.

Stay safe and well, from all of our volunteer dedicated Board of Directors: Patsy VandeVenter, Mickey Lindsay, Esta Mapes, Sharon Vedder, John and Marie Pacella, Stan and Susan Houseman, Jan Fredrickson, Kevin Mistler, and Elaine Shreve. Tom Shreve is our webmaster.

– Elaine