Welk Homestead State Historic Site

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The Welk Homestead, located northwest of Strasburg, interprets agriculture in the early 20th century, German Russian culture and architecture, and the career of bandleader Lawrence Welk, who grew up on the farm. The 6.11 acre site is the homestead of Ludwig and Christina Welk, who immigrated from near Odessa, Russia, in 1893. Nearly 120,000 people of German heritage left Russia for the US between 1870 and 1920, mainly due to political pressures. Free or cheap land drew many to North Dakota, settling mainly in the south central counties of Emmons, Logan, and McIntosh. The house was built in 1899 of dried mud brick known as batsa, a common construction method of the Germans from Russia both on the Russian steppe and the North American prairie. Additional architectural features also point to the family's German Russian heritage. A summer kitchen, outhouse, blacksmith shop, and granary, as well as a barn moved onto the site in about 1949, are also open seasonally.The Welk Homestead, located northwest of Strasburg, interprets agriculture in the early 20th century, German Russian culture and architecture, and the career of bandleader Lawrence Welk, who grew up on the farm. The 6.11 acre site is the homestead of Ludwig and Christina Welk, who immigrated from near Odessa, Russia, in 1893. Nearly 120,000 people of German heritage left Russia for the US between 1870 and 1920, mainly due to political pressures. Free or cheap land drew many to North Dakota, settling mainly in the south central counties of Emmons, Logan, and McIntosh. The house was built in 1899 of dried mud brick known as batsa, a common construction method of the Germans from Russia both on the Russian steppe and the North American prairie. Additional architectural features also point to the family's German Russian heritage. A summer kitchen, outhouse, blacksmith shop, and granary, as well as a barn moved onto the site in about 1949, are also open seasonally.