© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.

Solving the mystery of the oldest barn in Ada County

The Schick Barn.
Frank Eld
The Schick Barn.

“It's really quite an interesting story about the oldest barn in Ada County and possibly in the state. Undoubtedly one of the oldest still standing, having been built in c. 1865,” says Frank Eld, also known as 'The Barn Whisperer.’

Eld is talking about the Schick Barn in the Foothills north of Boise, just 15 minutes from downtown. It sits on a piece of Idaho's agricultural past.

The historic Schick-Ostolasa Farmstead was built in the 1860s and is the longest continuously inhabited home in Idaho.

The main house of the Schick-Ostolasa Farmstead.
Ann Goodwin
/
Ann Goodwin Photography
The main house of the Schick-Ostolasa Farmstead.

The home, barn, and five other buildings sit along Dry Creek, surrounded by lush green trees, a white picket fence, friendly goats and a small flock of chickens!

This merry band of chickens, and some friendly goats, live at the farm.
Ann Goodwin
/
Ann Goodwin Photography
This merry band of chickens, and some friendly goats, live at the farm.

The Farmstead is on the National Register of Historic Places thanks to the Dry Creek Historical Society which works to protect and restore the site and to share Idaho’s history through the story of the farm.

Eld, a self-proclaimed barn enthusiast and restorer, is helping the Society repair the Schick Barn.

“The construction of the barn is unique and not typically western,” says Eld.

The barn, along with the Farmstead, was built in the 1860s by Phillip Schick who settled in Dry Creek Valley after coming to Idaho during the mining boom. He grew food for the early settlers of Boise and the miners in the Boise Basin.

Schick built his barn using techniques not commonly found in the West and Eld began an investigation that led him all the way across the country to find out why.

“My barn research and eventual trip to upstate New York validated my suspicions that Schick built what he had known from his upbringing in New England versus following a typical western construction technique on his posts and beams,” Eld explains.

When the Society began restoration, volunteers found an unusual broadaxe inside, which became another piece of the mystery that Eld had to unravel.

The mysterious broadaxe found in the Schick Barn.
Frank Eld
The mysterious broadaxe found in the Schick Barn.

“As a Finnish log construction researcher and historian,” Eld says “I know a bit about axes and when I saw this one, I knew it wasn't one usually used in the west. I eventually tracked its origins to a manufacturer in New Hampshire and actually visited there and consulted with the Historical Society archivist about the axe. It turns out to be a shipwright's axe used primarily in New England building ships.”

Frank Eld's investigation into the mysterious broadaxe led him to New Hampshire to the site of the factory that made it.
Frank Eld
Frank Eld's investigation into the mysterious broadaxe led him to New Hampshire to the site of the factory that made it.

Eld’s ongoing research, including tracking down the maker of the broadaxe, has helped him paint a clearer picture of Phillip Schick and the history of the Schick-Ostolasa Farmstead. And learning that history, and sharing it with visitors to the farm, is what the Dry Creek Historical Society is all about, according to Cyndi Elliot, president of the non-profit group.

“Part of the mission of the Dry Creek Historical Society…is education,” Elliot says. The volunteers dress in period clothes and let visitors see how a farmstead worked…long before grocery stores, pharmacies and the internet.

Eld says going to a historic site like this farm, makes history come alive.

"That's why the Farmstead is so important. Because this is where people experience history," Eld says.

The Schick home in 1895.
Dry Creek Historical Society
The Schick home in 1895.

Stay Connected
As Senior Producer of our live daily talk show Idaho Matters, I’m able to indulge my love of storytelling and share all kinds of information (I was probably a Town Crier in a past life!). My career has allowed me to learn something new everyday and to share that knowledge with all my friends on the radio.

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.