About Michelsen Farmstead
The Andreas Michelsen Farmstead, originally built in 1902 by Andreas himself as a two-room house. In 1912 the house was added onto, to make 7 rooms in total, little has changed since. The homestead consists of a 1. 5 storey Victorian style farmhouse with wraparound porch, various outbuildings; including a barn, granary, calving shed, coal shed, machine shed, corrals and pens, and an outhouse; and landscape elements such as a dugout, cistern and filter, storage cellar, and garden. Located at the corner of 2nd Ave. & 6th Street, on the west half of four blocks in the northwest corner of the National Historic Site of Stirling, Alberta. The home remained in the Michelsen family until 1995 when the village in partnership with the Stirling Historical Society bought the homestead to turn into an interpretative center. In 2001 the homestead was registered as a Provincial Historic Resource and added to the Alberta Register of Historic Places. The Stirling Historical Society has since restored the property back to its original 19th-century style, and the farmstead is now a museum, depicting life as it was from 1900-1930s. Each summer the Historical Society holds day-camps for children and an old fashioned harvest dance which is held on the grounds of the Michelsen Farmstead every October. HistoryFrom the very beginning it was clear that the new settlement of Stirling was expected to be economically self-sufficient. Allotment of 2. 5 acre building plots were designed specifically so the individual owners could provide their own food. Equally important, but sometimes overlooked, was the expectation that the newly established village should be a community in the fullest sense. This must of course, include cultural outlets to relieve the monotony of daily labour.
Michelsen Farmstead Description
The Andreas Michelsen Farmstead, originally built in 1902 by Andreas himself as a two-room house. In 1912 the house was added onto, to make 7 rooms in total, little has changed since. The homestead consists of a 1. 5 storey Victorian style farmhouse with wraparound porch, various outbuildings; including a barn, granary, calving shed, coal shed, machine shed, corrals and pens, and an outhouse; and landscape elements such as a dugout, cistern and filter, storage cellar, and garden. Located at the corner of 2nd Ave. & 6th Street, on the west half of four blocks in the northwest corner of the National Historic Site of Stirling, Alberta. The home remained in the Michelsen family until 1995 when the village in partnership with the Stirling Historical Society bought the homestead to turn into an interpretative center. In 2001 the homestead was registered as a Provincial Historic Resource and added to the Alberta Register of Historic Places. The Stirling Historical Society has since restored the property back to its original 19th-century style, and the farmstead is now a museum, depicting life as it was from 1900-1930s. Each summer the Historical Society holds day-camps for children and an old fashioned harvest dance which is held on the grounds of the Michelsen Farmstead every October. HistoryFrom the very beginning it was clear that the new settlement of Stirling was expected to be economically self-sufficient. Allotment of 2. 5 acre building plots were designed specifically so the individual owners could provide their own food. Equally important, but sometimes overlooked, was the expectation that the newly established village should be a community in the fullest sense. This must of course, include cultural outlets to relieve the monotony of daily labour.