Before and After

A little bit of history from the Platz.

The internet is a wonderful tool for researching the history of something so while I was eating my lunch at my desk at the day job this last week I did a wee bit of sleuthing.

For aerial photographs.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder and Google Maps I looked-up some imagery to demonstrate how The Platz has changed over the years.

The property was cleared and settled at the eastern fringe of the Belgian settlement in the later half of the 1800s.  My cursory research in the vault of the county courthouse a number of years ago traced the chain of custody for the farmstead back to February 25, 1888 when the eighty acres was sold to Eli Simon of Brussels for $300.  Prior to that the property was owned by John Leathem and Thomas H. Smith of Sturgeon Bay.  And before them - Charles and Maria Scofield.  

As near as I can figure that makes the joint home to someone for somewhere around 128 years - give or take.

I've written from time to time about the possible and probable history of the property and have a record of the chain of custody up-to and including the purchase by The Frau and I.  Throughout the entire period the eighty acres have remained intact.

From the world wide web I'm adding some aerial imagery.

USDA photograph taken in June of 1938...

And Google Maps imagery from early fall 2014...

 click on images to enlarge

That's the two forty-acre parcels (top to bottom) squarely in the center of each image.  The clearly-defined L-shaped woodland at the top of the photo belongs to the neighbor to the north with a gravel road marking the north property line.  The county highway runs east-west just above the bottom of the image and defines the southern-most boundary.

The creek is still in the same place and a couple of ponds have been excavated for the critters.  What was cleared has largely been planted back in permanent cover - mostly trees.  Not just The Platz but the surrounding landscape is now more densely forested than early settlement times.

Note the ten distinct fields in the 1938 photo.  Pasture and smaller crop plantings.  Work was performed by horse-drawn implements.  The original homestead never had indoor plumbing and electricity did not arrive until shortly before or after WWII.  The footprint of the homestead remains in the same location is the same size.  No barn or barnyard anymore.  And speaking of electricity it sports an outdoor hot tub and three indoor bathrooms.

Change is endless.