Oak Creek Historical Society

Wohlust/Maass Farm

            Location:          10775 S. Nicholson Rd. Oak Creek, WI       

            Established:     1851

 

Peter Wohlust, born in 1803, emigrated from Germany with his wife and son Benjamin in 1851. Benjamin Wohlust, born in 1823, purchased approximately 100 acres of land in Oak Creek in August 1851. He built a frame house on the banks of the Root River and also had a log cabin nearby on Nicholson Road.  In 1863, during the Lincoln administration, Benjamin and his wife Johanne (nee Koehler) built the brick home at 10775 S. Nicholson Road, where they raised nine children.  His father, Peter, died in 1870, shortly after serving in the Civil War. Benjamin died in 1886.  In March 1895, Wilhelmina “Minnie” Wohlust, the daughter of Benjamin and Johanne, and her husband, Gustav Maass, purchased the property from the Wohlust family.  

 

Gustav and Minnie Maass raised nine children in the home. Gustav died in 1925, and his son, Harrian Maass, purchased the home and property from Minnie in 1948.  Harrian and his wife, Laura (nee Dagelen), raised three children in the home, and Harrian died in 1976. His wife, Laura, lived there until her death in 2009 at the age of 96.

 

Portions of the acreage were sold over the years.  The home and remaining property are still owned by Harrian and Laura’s children, Harrian Jr. and Nancy Kenyon, and Arlene Maass, the wife of Donald Maass, who passed away in 2013. Still standing on the remaining 3 acres are the original ice house, shed and smokehouse. The home is currently occupied by the great- great- great- great grandchild of Peter.