Historical Society Touring Sod House

What’s the secret to keeping a sod house standing for 132 years? Love. It’s obvious when you visit with the Jackson-Einspahr sod house’s current owner, Gerald Hartman.
His love for the soddy and its history is apparent as newspaper clippings, photos, letters and books spill out onto his dining room table where he and his wife, Margy share stories about the sod house with visitors. “Our goal is to keep it preserved,” Hartman stated.
The Hartmans have owned the land on which the sod house stands since 2002. They will be providing a tour of the Jackson-Einspahr soddy for the Kearney County Historical Society’s June 15th program.
The soddy was first owned by Silas Jackson in 1881 and was sold to Jack and Mary Einspahr in 1892. For the next 100 years, the Einspahr family owned the sod house. Jack and Mary Einspahr raised their children there and several of those children also raised families there. Two of their children, Gustav and Vesper Einspahr never married and stayed on the family farm until 1992.

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