Prairie Log House

Built by homesteader Oliver Dahl in 1871 on a prairie farm 12 mile northeast of where the town of Rembrandt, Iowa was later established. Scandinavian style construction made of split oak with a dovetailed finsih. In 1899 the Bertness family acquired the farm. In 1962, heirs Ossie and Alice (Bertness) Anderson, donated the log house to the Buena Vista County Historical Society. It was then moved the 14 miles into Storm Lake. Other accounts state the home was built by Halvor Ellerton Dahl in 1870.

The town of Rembrandt, in the southeastern portion of Barnes township, was established the year the M. & St. L. railway was built through, or in 1900. The following year the town was incorporated and at the present time L. H. Green is mayor. There is no school in the town, but a rural school is close by, serving the purpose of a graded school until the population will warrant tile establishment of an independent district, and with the steady growth of the population this will be but a matter of a short time. The Little Sioux Valley church is three miles west of Rembrandt and until this spring there has been no church in the town. On Sunday, April 18, 1909, a new Methodist church was dedicated with appropriate services. Geo. A. Mair will be the first pastor. There is a Woodman lodge in Rembrandt which was recently established and has a growing membership.

All lines of business have been well represented since the organization of the town, and at present there are three elevators, of which one is a farmers co-operative company and two line elevators. The Lane Moore Lumber Company has a yard with B. Bonnichsen as manager. A. C. Schluntz deals in live stock and farm implements. R. Siefkin has a meat market. Geo. E. Foval is proprietor of the hotel. G. A. Spiegelberger is postmaster and conducts a hardware store. Haroldsen & Hegna and tile Rembrandt Mercantile Go., with H. 0. Lee and H. F. Welmerling, jr., as managers, conduct general merchandise stores. W. A. Seeley, M. D., is the resident physician. The Rembrandt Savings Bank is in charge of H. C. Berger, the cashier. J. C. Stickel conducts a drug store and the Northern Telephone Company has a local exchange. The Rembrandt Creamery burned to the ground a few years ago but is now rebuilt and in operation, better and larger than before. The business men of the town are active and wide awake and their relation with the surrounding community is excellent and trade in all lines is increasing.

Wegerslev, C. H. and Thomas Walpole.  Past and Present of Buena Vista County, Iowa.  Chicago:  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909, 166-67.