Quilt Pattern: Grandpa's Delight

Dan and Nancy Karlen
W4876 Cty. C
Monticello, WI 53570

History
First entries in the abstract of title read “the United States to Mathias Marty” beginning in 1849-1854 and to Ira Foster in 1846 and 1848. The Karlen family ownership began January 2, 1926 with Fred C. Karlen as noted in entry No.90 of the abstract. Herman G. and Agnes Karlen bought the farm in 1936, Lawrence H. and Marian Karlen in 1959, and Daniel J. and Nancy Jo Karlen on January 1, 1990.

The ancestry of the registered Holsteins traces back to the early 1900’s. The herd was split between Herman and his brother in 1926. Herman’s half of the herd was walked here at that time from the Karlen homestead farm located on Dividing Ridge Road. Herman (1902-1999) was a founding patron of Northside Cheese Cooperative and milk from the farm still goes to the same factory location in Monticello now known as Swiss Heritage Cheese.

The original 68’ x 34’ dairy barn of stone foundation, hand-hewn timbers and wooden pegs has seen many changes over the years of Karlen ownership. This barn housed the dairy cows as well as the young stock and work horses. In the mid 1950’s, an eighteen foot addition to the west still maintained timber frame construction but the additional foundation was poured concrete. The round roof section was added to the east in 1967 bringing the barn’s length to 100’. At that time, the orientation of the alleyway was changed from the short way to long way and the milk house including a bulk tank was added.

Milk was still carried to the milk house until 1977 when a transfer system was installed and then the pipeline was welcomed in 1979. A remodeling project in 2000 changed the stanchion barn to a step-up parlor and holding area.

Comments
The barn quilt design is fashioned after a picture made from wooden pieces by Lawrence H. Karlen. Lawrence (1927-2009) was an avid woodworker and enjoyed sharing his various wooden creations with family and friends. The barn quilt is a memorial to him, thus the name Grandpa’s Delight.

GPS Coordinates
Latitude: 42.745599
Longitude: -89.592604

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