Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland (Minnesota)
Editorial Reviews
From Independent Publisher
William Gabler's artful, evocative photographs of Minnesota farmhouses amply illustrate the story of their rise and fall detailed in the introduction text and comprehensive captions. Wheat production stimulated the invention and use of complex machinery developed during the industrial revolution in the United States. This fact, coupled with the availability of inexpensive farmland, drew thousands of European immigrants to Minnesota. In 1883 Minnesota was the country's chief wheat-producing state and Minneapolis was the worldwide capital of flour-milling. Minnesota farmhouses are often termed Victorian with Gothic influences, but in fact they enjoy a style distinct from English architecture built in the time of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The Minnesota homestead had qualities particularly adapted to the Midwestern prairie and differed from the European framing model in which farmers lived in the village and walked to work in the fields. American homesteaders preferred the more isolated, but in other ways satisfying, prospect of living on their own land.Typical farmhouses were sited on a low rise to provide efficient water drainage and proper air circulation. Their basic outline was an L-shape that could be expanded as necessary. Barns, situated diagonally across the barnyard from the farmhouse, were typically made of wood planks and featured gambrel roofs. Farmsteads included front yards, back yards, and various outbuildings. Gabler describes and illustrates the areas of the farmstead, the construction of its buildings, and the layouts of farmhouse rooms. He notes that, "Such beauty as they possess resulted from practical necessity and not from an imposed aesthetic philosophy." However, as the photographs in this volume demonstrate, it is nonetheless beauty, made more poignant by the gradual disappearance of these prairie homes.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
The industrialization of America economy between 1862 and 1893 provided pioneer farm families with the means to realize their dream on the Minnesota prairie. At the same time that complex machinery and railroad transportation became affordable, the United States government made available millions of acres of free land, which attracted thousands of European immigrants to the American Midwest.
The way of life of these first industrialized farmers gave the nation much of its economic might and many of its characteristic values. It also fostered a distinctive wave of Victorian-era architecture. The concept of the so-called L-house evolved out of hard experience on the land rather than from philosophical musing on the drawing board. The classic farmhouse was a structural species evolved through adaptation to a specific set of economic circumstances.
Now the last of these original farmhouses are disappearing. Many of them have been left standing open, neither locked nor boarded up. Once a house is abandoned, it becomes subject to damp and decay, which removed the paint, wallpaper, and plaster. Air and light and heat enter through broken windows and rotted roof to dry and bleach the boards. Cleaned to the bones, the house becomes stark and silent, belying the color and variety of the life that went on within it.
How these classic farmhouses looked outside and inside, how they fit into their farmsteads, and how they sometimes evolved from small simple shapes into large compound structures as the families prospered is detailed in "Death of a Dream." Some of William Gabler's stunning photographs are composed of a dozen or more negatives taken from varying positions to better illustrate the many aspects of his subjects. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland (Minnesota),William G. Gabler,Afton Historical Society Press,189043423X,Architecture,Domestic,General,History,History: American,Reference,U.S. Architecture - General,United States - General,Agriculture & Farming,Houses, apartments, flats, etc,Minnesota,The countryside, country life
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