Our Buildings – Nelson Pioneer

Museum

Built in 1964, the Museum houses two floors of traditional exhibits, with the genealogy library on the top floor. Begin your tour of the site through the blue door and see topics of Mahaska County history including: first inhabitants, early settlement, John F. Lacey, and the musical heritage of the area. New exhibits include the […]

Nelson House

After living in Mahaska County for six years, Daniel Nelson began construction on a larger home for his family in 1852. A team of oxen dragged the foundation stones from John H. Colville’s quarry to the building site after the ground was frozen. The foundation settled over the winter and construction began in earnest the […]

Summer Kitchen and Meat House

Built in 1890, this Summer Kitchen was used by the Nelson family to cook meals in the summer and heat wash water year-round. Having a separate building for these tasks helped regulate the temperatures in the home. Water was hauled to the stove from the well (which sat between the back porch of the house […]

Nelson Barn

In 1856, Daniel built a large barn directly across from his new brick home. He hired A.J. Jewell to construct the building. Just as the house, the lumber used to construct the barn was cut from the Nelson timberland. The barn was constructed with timber joints and wooden pegs, which can be seen throughout the […]

Littler Cabin

Originally from near Bussey, IA, this two-story cabin was built sometime between 1867 and 1869. Benjamin Littler was born in Indiana in 1848, then came with his family to Iowa in 1866. Three years later, he married Martha Jane Smith (born in Virginia in 1850). The couple had five children. The cabin boasts a wood […]

Prine School

This was one of the last country schools to close in the whole state of Iowa. Prine operated from 1861 until 1966. It was built northwest of Oskaloosa, near the corner of Highway 163 and Independence Avenue. The school was built on land donated by the Prine family, one of the early families in Mahaska […]

Mott General Store

The Mott family operated this general store from 1915 to 1923 in the town of Lacey, Iowa. Customers could barter, trade, pay cash, or run on credit to purchase whatever their family needed – dry goods, clothing and shoes, cooking utensils and other supplies. If the store didn’t carry what you needed, they could order […]

Spring Creek Voting House

This building is believed to be the first voting house constructed strictly as a voting house west of the Mississippi River. It was built in 1880 about four miles east of Oskaloosa and only open on election days. Over time, security around its original location was minimal and the building experienced vandalism. The trustees overseeing […]

Wright Post Office

The village of Wright sprang up at the corner of Spring Creek, White Oak, Harrison and Cedar townships sometime around the 1870s. The Iowa Central Railroad set tracks through the village in 1882. The post office was originally located in the Wright Bank. After the bank closed, the post office moved to this small building […]

Rus Scale House

Built on a farm north of Peoria, Iowa in 1865, it houses an original buffalo farm scale that was used to weigh livestock and grain before heading to market. The wagon would be driven up the scale, weighed empty and then weighed again full. The scale weighs up to 6,000 pounds. The Rus family acquired […]

Coal Creek Friends Meeting House

There is a strong Quaker history in Mahaska County and the surrounding area. Coal Creek was a small community four miles northwest of What Cheer in Keokuk County. Jeremiah Stanley and his wife, Quakers from Ohio, settled in Coal Creek in 1850. In 1864, the families in the area built this meeting house for a […]

Kalbach Lumber Office

Isaac Kalbach opened the first lumber company in Oskaloosa in 1864. The company began operating in a stage coach barn where the current Oskaloosa City Hall sits. In 1867, Kalbach built this office building along with lumber sheds. It served as the company headquarters until 1902 when the company acquired more land and built a […]

Hopewell Store and Post Office

Hopewell was a small village just east of Oskaloosa near the North Skunk River. It was on the main overland route to Oskaloosa from Iowa City, and this building connected to a stage coach stop in its early years. It also housed the post office for village residents from 1851 to 1877. Over its lifespan, […]

Clark Blacksmith Shop

The only reproduction building on the site, the blacksmith shop was built in 1992-1993 and named after long-time smith Walter Clark of Rose Hill. Blacksmiths were essential craftsmen for pioneer communities. Although they are best known for making horse shoes, blacksmiths also made and repaired cookware, hardware, wheels, nails, and other items for the home […]

Buxton House

Buxton, Iowa, was a company town established by the Consolidation Coal Company circa 1900. It sat on the county line between Mahaska and Monroe, with Buxton proper sitting mostly in Monroe County. The town grew rapidly as miners came from eastern portions of the US and abroad to work the coal mines. Buxton was an […]

Sawmill

Volunteers have spent years restoring this sawmill. Up through the 1950s, many farmers had home sawmills, just as Daniel Nelson did during the mid-19th century. These were powered by canvas or leather belts on early tractors. These mills had rotary cutting blades that left markings on the cut boards. Now housed under a lean-to, the […]

Windmill

Built on the Baker farm near Indianapolis in 1880, this windmill was moved to the site in 1969. The windmill is connected to a water pump originally owned by John Nelson. Restoration for the windmill has happened twice since its arrival to the Nelson Pioneer Farm, once by the caretaker in 1986, and again in […]

Cupola

Originally the decorative cupola from the first New Sharon High School from around 1880. When the school building was demolished, Mr. and Mrs. Ole Ness placed the cupola on their farm north of New Sharon. Cupolas are designed to allow natural light and ventilation into structures, especially in barns or taller buildings that need good […]

Mule Cemetery

The only mule cemetery in Iowa (that we know of), here lies Jennie and Becky. Daniel Nelson purchased two white mules at an auction in Centerville in 1865. Jennie and Becky were Civil War veterans. Branded with “US” on their hips, they pulled artillery guns and supply wagons for the Union Army. They worked on […]

A Note to Photographers

Please call our Director at 641-672-2989 or email them director@nelsonpioneer.org to get permission to come take photographs of the property. This is not an open site and permission is necessary so we can let our property caretaker know.