West Salem, Putting the Unity in Community Since 1782!

Stockburger Farm House, 1782, c.1900

The earliest section of this house, which originally faced west, is partially discernable on the west elevation with stone foundation and interior chimney. This section is one and a half stories with a front gable roof and is of log construction.

The original house was built as the establishment of a farm by Salem Diacony and Brother Johannes George Stockburger. The sixty-eight acre farm was intended to supply milk, meat, etc. to Salem. Stockburger departed in 1789, and a succession of other farmers also failed to make the farm an economic success. By 1819, the land was leased to the Salem Mill (located at the southern end of the farm on Salem Creek.)

This tract was sold to the mill operators' descendants in 1875. C.P. Sides purchased thirty-two acres of the tract, including the mill, in 1886. Part of this property was subdivided into building lots at his death in 1891 and the remainder was divided after the mill burned in 1902.

The farmhouse and other land along Walnut Street were part of the land that was sold after Sides death. These lots were purchased by John Nading in 1892 and were developed into Nading Place in 1925.