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- Nicolaus Victorian Farmhouse
This magnificent Victorian frame house, barn and farm buildings are located at 3655 South Woelfel Road in New Berlin, Wisconsin. The house was built in 1900 for Matt Follman by two local carpenters George Koeffler and Edward Hause. When the house was completed Matt Follman decided to build and move to Calhoun Hall which is still located just south of the railroad tracks on the west side of Calhoun Road in New Berlin. George Koeffler then moved his family into the new farmhouse at 3655 South Woelfel Road. George’s youngest son Harold was born there. Koeffler’s hired man, Edward Hause, lived at the Koeffler farmhouse on Coffee Street until a house was built for Edward Hause, also located on Coffee Street. Later the Koeffler’s moved back to Coffee Street. Harold Koeffler passed away April 2012 at the age of 100 years. In 1913 David C. Nicolaus and his wife Maria (Conrad) Nicolaus moved from Mukwonago when they purchased the Victorian farmhouse at 3655 South Woelfel Road. They started their family and had two children Roy and Frieda. On the 60 acre farm the Nicolaus family raised pigs, chickens and dairy cows and grew crops such as corn, oats, and hay along with a very large vegetable garden. They also had horses for plowing and transportation. Maria’s father purchased a wooded 20 acre parcel of mostly maple trees adjacent to the Nicolaus land for the wood to be used on his farm on Hwy 100. The 20 acre parcel became part of the farm after Maria’s father passed away. Those 20 acres of maple woods were recently donated to the Waukesha County Land Conservancy by the Nicolaus family.
The Victorian farm house and complete set of buildings remain almost unchanged from years past. The farm remains in the family and is still active today. The vegetable garden is still producing vegetables and the rest of the land is rented out to a local farmer who grows feed corn and soy beans.