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Agricultural Communications/Sudlow Collection 50-0-7(3564) and 50-0-8 (3570)

Agricultural Communications/Sudlow CollectionAgricultural Communications/Sudlow Collection

This interesting home belonged to Edward W. and Mae A. Laisy. They constructed their home from local stone and their entry archway appears to be made with petrified wood. The house was also very modern. The South Dakota Extension Service recognized Mae as one of the Eminent Homemakers of 1936. In the citation read at the Eminent Farmers and Homemakers banquet, the Laisy house was described as having “… eight rooms, their own water, air and electric light system. She has a vacuum cleaner, electric washer and iron. They have the same batteries for 9 years. Their well is 365 feet deep, and together with windmill, cost $1,000. Their water is piped through the house and a septic tank is installed.” In both photographs you can see windmills as it was common for farms and ranches to have 32-volt electricity generated by windmills. The excess electricity was stored in batteries for later use. To have their own water, they must have had an electric water pump bringing water into the house.  

The Laisy’s moved from Iowa to South Dakota in 1910, homesteading in Gill, Harding County. The Laisy ranch had between 200-300 Herford cattle and raised feed and cultivated alfalfa. They raised chickens for their own use and made their own butter. Mae worked to establish nine-month school in the community and overall improvement of the education system. She also did secretarial work for the Harding County Farmers’ Mutual Insurance Company. Edward died in 1938, but Mae, her youngest son, and hired help kept the ranch producing until 1946. Mae then moved to Glendive, Montana to live with her daughter and family. She died Feb. 2, 1984, at age 104.