John Olness House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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John Olness House
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 Location in Minnesota
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Georgetown, Minnesota |
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| Built | 1902 |
| Architect | Brattenborg |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Queen Anne |
| MPS | Clay County MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002018 |
| Added to NRHP | May 07, 1980 |
The John Olness House is a special old house located in Kragnes Township, Clay County, Minnesota. It sits just north of Moorhead along U.S. Route 75. This house is important because it shows how farms and farm businesses were connected in Clay County a long time ago.
The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's recognized as a place that is important to American history. The house has a unique look, showing influences of the Queen Anne style. This style stands out in Clay County because most other buildings there were built in a simpler, local way, called vernacular architecture.
The original owner, John Olness, was a very successful farmer. He also owned several businesses in the nearby town of Kragnes. These included the local grain elevator, which stores grain, and a lumber yard, which sells wood.
A House Against the Flood
The John Olness House became famous during the 2009 Red River flood. This big flood happened in 2009. On March 24, 2009, the owner at the time, Jeremy Kuipers, found a problem. Floodwaters had gone over a protective wall, called a dike, along a county road. The water then surrounded the house.
Many volunteers quickly came to help. They filled thousands of sandbags. Sandbags are bags filled with sand used to build temporary walls against water. These volunteers worked hard to build a new dike around the house. This helped to protect it from the rising floodwaters. The floodwaters were expected to threaten the house for about two more weeks before going down.
