Manske-Niemann Farm

Four miles south of Litchfield, Illinois, beside former U.S. Route 66, this farmstead centers on a circle drive around a two-story frame house and about twenty major outbuildings. Gardens, an orchard, poultry yards, an apiary, a hog lot and pastures fill the spaces between them. The house began as a five-bay, side-gabled I-house with vernacular Greek Revival detailing, probably built between 1850 and 1870. Whether the original landowner, James Stuver, or the Prussian-born Michael Manske built it is uncertain. About 1900 the family added a large rear wing with Queen Anne interior trim, a bathroom, and a separate bedroom for hired hands. Surviving outbuildings include a brick smokehouse mentioned in an 1863 insurance policy, a privy, a brick-lined well, and a workshop where Clarence Niemann kept a forge and an overhead drive system for lathes and a drill press. The complex is significant as a well-preserved farm of a German immigrant family with 34 contributing resources.