Jacob Zimmerman House was the home of Jacob and Lena Zimmerman,
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
settlers who came west over the
Oregon Trail in 1851 to what became
Multnomah County in the U.S. state of
Oregon. Built in 1874, the house was part of a dairy farm. Members of the Zimmerman family lived on the farm from 1870 through 1992. The house and were added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1986. In 1994, the city of
Gresham began land acquisition and planning for a public park, Zimmerman Heritage Farm, with the house as its centerpiece.
The city, which owns the land, and the Fairview-Rockwood-Wilkes Historical Society (FRWHS), which owns the house, manage the Zimmerman Heritage Farm through a partnership.
In 1992, the FRWHS acquired the house from Isobel Faith Zimmerman, the youngest granddaughter of the original owners.
By late 2006, the society had spent an estimated $170,000 on rebuilding the foundation, upgrading the security system, fixing the porch, repairing the chimneys, replacing the roof and gutters, painting the exterior, and other work.
The house is open for public tours on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Zimmermans were among the five founding families of
Fairview. They arrived in the
Willamette Valley in 1851 and settled on
Hayden Island in the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
. After floods destroyed their first crops, they re-located to a
donation land claim
The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pr ...
about east of
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
. In late 1869, Jacob Zimmerman bought another donation land claim and moved into a
log cabin
A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers.
Eur ...
on this site until building the original house in 1874. The Zimmermans' son, George, enlarged the farm to on which he ran a successful dairy business that continued under several relatives and
lessees into the 20th century.
References
External links
Zimmerman House- E.C.H.O.: East County Historical Organization
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Jacob, House
Buildings and structures in Gresham, Oregon
German-American culture in Oregon
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Houses completed in 1874
National Register of Historic Places in Gresham, Oregon
1874 establishments in Oregon
Houses in Multnomah County, Oregon
Museums in Multnomah County, Oregon