An effort to save Mower County’s historic 138-year-old log cabin comes with a price.

Thursday, November 30, 2000

An effort to save Mower County’s historic 138-year-old log cabin comes with a price.

It will cost $8,503 to move the Ole Severson cabin to a site near the blacksmith shop on the Mower County Fairgrounds. It will cost another $3,500 to restore it to its original condition.

The distance between the current site of the cabin and the blacksmith shop is no more than 50 yards, making the move one of the most expensive of any building.

The estimates come from Wagner Construction Co. of Austin in a letter to the Mower County Historical Society’s Shirley DeYoung.

Company President John E. Wagner informed DeYoung and the other MCHS members that the $8,503 estimate would include removing and replacing the cabin’s wood floor.

Because of the winter weather, the historic cabin, believed to be the oldest man-made structure in Mower County, would have to be covered as soon as possible with insulating mats to prevent further frost penetration.

There would have to be excavating and backfill for the new concrete slap foundation and 8 inches of sand cushion under the floor slap.

The $8,503 estimate covers electrical work, repair of the building roof, side walls, entrance door and windows, plus sodding and seeding at the current building site and the new site. There also would have to be tree and stump removal to facilitate the move.

Wagner also advised: "The cabin will need repair. One must be extremely careful in doing this work so as not to detract from the original design of the cabin and using materials to match existing as close as possible."

Wagner prefaced his $3,500 restoration estimate, saying it would "go a long way in bringing the cabin back closer to its original condition."

Wagner also urged DeYoung and the MCHS to act immediately.

"If this project is to become a reality, the new site should be covered with insulating mats now to prevent the ground from freezing further," he said.

Construction of a new, handicapped-accessible men’s and women’s public restroom facility at the east end of the fairgrounds will replace an antiquated facility.

It also forces the move of the historic log cabin exhibit at the Mower County Historical Center.

The financially strapped MCHS went to the Mower County Board of Commissioners for assistance, but the commissioners made it clear that the fate of the log cabin, like that of the historic 1884 Mower County Courthouse dome, rests clearly with the MCHS.

One of the reasons given by county commissioners for their hesitation to approve any permanent relocation of either the dome or the log cabin on the fairgrounds is the effort currently under way to consider all facilities at the fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

Presently, the county commissioners are waiting for bids for a new multipurpose building with two sheets of ice. If the bids come in within the budget and the arena building is built, the new facility will be the cornerstone of a reconfiguration of the entire fairgrounds.

Allowing either the courthouse dome or log cabin to be permanently moved to new locations on the fairgrounds may be premature if the brainstorming for the county’s "fairgrounds of the future" comes up with another plan for their location.

According to George Brophy, president of the MCHS board of directors, Wagner’s estimates for moving the log cabin and its restoration are "reasonable." He also agreed it would be imperative to take action now, before the ground freezes, to facilitate the move and its relocation.

However, Brophy also noted, the MCHS and the Mower County Board of Commissioners jointly signed a letter of agreement two weeks ago.

The agre ement prohibits the building from being torn down and sets forth three options for its future:

n A private group may undertake a fund-raising effort to restore the building without using tax dollars.

n The building’s original owners may claim it and move the building, at their expense, to another location.

n The building may be made available to a third party, who would agree to move it from the fairgrounds – also at their own expense.

At this time, Brophy said he knows of no one coming forward to undertake any of the options agreed upon by the MCHS and county board.