William F. Jahn Farmstead

Jahn was a German immigrant, arriving with his family at Mequon from Saxony in 1844 at the age of 12. He became a surveyor, Superintendent of Schools for the city, a farmer, and a prominent local politician. The school house that was once on the south west corner of Wauwatosa Road and Freistadt Road was named after him, the William F. Jahn school. He is my great-great grandfather, on my dad’s mother’s side of the family. I have original pictures of him and his family and my grandmother’s father, Gustav Jahn, at the same homestead.[2][3] The farm was a successful diversified operation, by 1880 it had grown to 100 acres with dairy cows, pigs, and chickens, and grew wheat, corn, and oats.[2]

The farmstead is significant as a relatively intact and well-preserved example of a Greek Revival farmhouse in Mequon. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[2]