In 1912, Jacob and Sophie Lahti purchased the deed to 80 acres of land and within a few years built a small house just north of a small creek that ran westerly almost through the middle of the property. Jacob fished for salmon out of Astoria and used the income to buy the materials to build his barn and provide a living for his growing family. After a few years, a small barn was built across the creek along with several small sheds and buildings, such as a smoke house, chicken house, garage and outhouse. In 1923, enough money was saved to construct a new home on the property on the site of the original house. The home was a large two story with a full basement, indoor plumbing, knob and tube wiring, and an indoor sauna. It was a unique construction of concrete block with stucco siding. After it was completed, dignitaries from Vancouver and the surrounding area visited the home.
A new barn was constructed west of the house in the 1920s. It was a large square barn built with logs and dimension lumber. The barn has a gable roof, hay hood and weather vane. The barn has vertical wood batten siding. The center of the barn was for storing the loose hay in order to feed the dairy cattle and work horses. The hay was loaded into the barn using a team of horses to pull a sling full of loose hay up to the inside track and then pulled along the track until the designated place to dump in the stack. At the southeast corner of the barn, a milk house was built to store milk cans and milking utensils. Over the years, silos, loafing sheds, and bunker silos were constructed.
In 1949, Jacob and Sophie decided to retire and sell the farm to their fourth eldest son,William Lahti. He and his wife, Arley, continued to operate the dairy farm until the mid 1960s. Since then, the farm has raised beef cattle and hay.
- Listed in the Washington Heritage Barn Register
Jacob & Sophie Lahti Farm
21406 NE 167th Ave
Battle Ground, WA 98604
United States