This historic Oronoco home built by the Kahler family feels like a 'tree house'
ORONOCO, Minn. — Tucked among the trees and just right off the Zumbro River, a house built by the Kahler family more than 100 years ago is one of two surviving historic properties on its lane.Realtor Tina Altman of Keller Williams Premier Woodbury likes to call the house, known as the Kahler cottage, “‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ 1900s edition.”
Located at 15 Second Ave. SW in Oronoco, the home features over-100-year-old original fir flooring and redwood siding, double-decker porch sunrooms and a long history connected to the Mayo, Plummer, Eaton and Kahler families.“It was a fixer-upper,” owner Virginia Sprau, 56, said of when she first bought the house in 1996. Since then, she and her former husband, Gerard Wimmer, have put more than $250,000 in improvements to the approximately 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom and two-bathroom home, including a fully renovated kitchen and a double Jacuzzi. The home, sitting on nearly an acre, is now
listed for $675,000
by Altman and Tami Greenslade of Property Brokers of MN.One of the first major renovations the two did when they bought the house was to revamp the sleeping porches into three wide, open sunrooms. In the ground-floor sunroom alone, Sprau and Wimmer replaced the porch’s storm doors with 18 large pane windows.
Owner Virginia Sprau said that she replaced the storm doors with 18 wide pane windows in the ground floor sunroom alone.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
“In the summer, we’re basically in a tree house,” she said. “Sleeping out in the winter, you can see all the way around because those rooms are all open.”The first-floor sunroom also features a mural painted by Rochester-based artist Greg Wimmer, Sprau’s former brother-in-law. The mural shows Sprau riding her horse, Brandy, on her childhood farm in Chatfield.The Oronoco home was Sprau’s first house — and also her 25-year-old daughter Mina’s childhood home. The home carries memories of the family snowshoeing on the frozen Zumbro River — formerly on the then-Lake Shady — Mina’s violin-playing on the deck down by the lakefront and even a recent proposal from her fiancé back in October.Each year, the family also hosted their traditional “Wimmerfest,” where friends and family would pile into the spacious home, dress up and eat food. Sprau said the home can easily entertain around 100 if needed.
Despite all the activities, Sprau said she appreciated the property’s privacy when she lived there.“The funny thing is, technically, we’re in the middle of town,” she said. “This is actually not the country, but it seems like it.”Each August, Oronoco hosts its famous Gold Rush Days where thousands of visitors cram in to buy goods, antiques and collectibles from sellers across the country. But Sprau said the event has never impeded on her peace.
A view of the Kahler cottage facing the Zumbro River is shown before any modern renovations were done.Contributed / Oronoco Area History Center
“One of the coolest things about this place in Gold Rush is Gold Rush stops out there,” she said, referring to Center Street where the lane to Sprau's house branches off from. “And so you can go out into the chaos, kind of like you're doing into the state fair, only at a very small scale, and then you come back and you get away from it.”Perhaps the seclusion and country experience were what Drs. William and Charles Mayo were seeking when they first built their 1890s cottage in the lane. The Mayos owned the land and even had a summer retreat for a number of years on the property. Three other historic Rochester families, the Kahlers, the Eatons and the Plummers also built homes in the lane around that time. The Kahlers' legacy continues through the historic Kahler Grand Hotel in downtown Rochester, which opened its doors in 1921.Mayo Clinic's first chief administrative officer, Harry Harwick, bought the properties around the 1930s and started using the Eaton cottage as a retreat for Mayo Clinic employees. Out of the historic four properties, only the Eaton cottage and the Kahler cottage still stand.The history of the lane was passed down to Lance Sorensen, 79, who was caretaker for the houses on the property from 1979 to 1989. Sorensen had originally been called out to the property to advise the owner, Bill Harwick, son of Harry Harwick, about tree planting. Harwick happened to be looking for a caretaker for the property.
“He just asked if I knew somebody who might be interested in being a caretaker,” Sorensen said of Harwick. “So I went and talked to my wife and we came out and visited and said, ‘yep, that’s a cool place to live.’”Sorensen moved into the caretaker's house across the street from the Kahler cottage and has been keeping track of the property’s history since. The previous caretaker, Lyle Green, passed a lot of its stories down, Sorensen said.Sorensen’s favorite feature of the Kahler cottage is the all-new kitchen, he said, which features a double oven and an island. Sprau renovated the original small galley kitchen starting in 2000.
The kitchen in the home at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
Having a penchant for liking trees, Sprau said, is what might make her home unique.“You have to like trees because you get tree things, you know?” she said. “Like this tree has flowers on it, and so they leave their little things. And then some things are very shaded, so then certain plants don’t grow.”A tree special to Sprau and her family sits right in the middle of the patio — a Ginalla Maple that she and her former husband planted in honor of their daughter’s birth.Sprau said that it will be the trees, fireflies and solid wood doors she will miss the most from her first house.
“This house is just a little too big for just me,” Sprau said. “It’s ready for a new family, new home.”
The nearly-one acre home with "triple-decker" sunrooms, over 100-year-old original fir floor and redwood siding and a double jacuzzi is shown along the Zumbro River at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
The living room with a stone fireplace is shown in the home at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
One of the upstairs sunrooms is shown at the home at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
A third sunroom juts off of an upstairs bedroom in the house at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
The upstairs bathroom with a double jacuzzi is shown in the home at 15 2nd Ave. SW in Oronoco.Contributed / Keller Williams Premier Woodbury and Property Brokers of MN
