By Shannon Fiecke, Staff Writer

It’s a story not unlike others in Shakopee. Except it may be one of the last of its era.

In 1941, a brood of seven left a farm in the hamlet of St. Benedict for the west end of Shakopee. After the littlest Steinhoff was born, eight children would sleep and play in the two-story house at 605 Fourth Ave. W. After they grew up, eight more little Steinhoffs took their place. Now all who is left again is Mr. and Mrs. Steinhoff — and soon they’ll be gone too.

Jerry Steinhoff, who grew up in this 149-year-old house and also raised his own family here, and his wife Georgia are finally moving on — to the senior high-rise where Georgia says half of the old neighborhood has gone. The couple has been preparing for this Saturday for years, but that doesn’t make leaving their Fourth Avenue home any easier.

As the couple last week sold off much of the belongings they’ve accumulated since marrying in 1959, they weren’t the only ones feeling a loss. Eight children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren have lost a gathering place. And neighbors — young and old — who stopped to chat at the garage sale last Friday are losing a familiar fixture on their side of Shakopee. 

“We’re kind of the oak tree of the west end,” Jerry said, explaining that the “Steinhoff house” is so familiar to people, locals use it as a point of reference when they give directions for that part of town. “This is part of Shakopee.”

The neighborhood looks a lot different today than when Jerry first moved here at about age 5 in the early 1940s. In those days, the house was on the edge of town and people were self-sufficient.

Jerry Steinhoff, the retired head custodian of Central School, is preparing to move with his wife Georgia from the place he’s called home most of his 72 years.

 Like other city residents, his family raised chickens and pigs and kept a well-stocked fruit cellar. Where a modern twin-home now stands on the other side of Shumway Street, a cow from the farm down the block was tied up to graze during the day.

Other than a four-year stint in the Air Force, Jerry has spent most of his days in the large cream-colored stucco (yes, there’s Shakopee Brick underneath). Jerry (short for Jerome) and Georgia bought the home from his parents not long after marrying in 1959.

 Georgia — raised in Lake Minnewashta, west of Chanhassen — had never been on the other side of “the river” until she met Jerry (they got acquainted at a ballroom in Chaska).

“I came across the river and stayed,” she said.

The couple raised eight children in the house. The neighborhood was filled with families in those days. “There were kids all over the place,” Georgia said. When she didn’t know where her own had gone, any child on the street could tell her whose house they were at.    

Jerry is a familiar face to many of those who attended Shakopee schools. He was a machinist right out of the service, but decided to switch careers after continual layoffs. When he was out of work, the family had some pretty lean days and ate a lot of fish — thankfully Jerry was a fisherman, Georgia said.

Georgia recalls 35 vying for a school custodian job. “He said, ‘If you give me this job I will retire from it’ — and he did,” she said. 

In 1991, Jerry retired as facility manager at Central School after 23 years at the building.  

Jerry said he and his wife are moving because of their health (he has had hip problems) and age. The two are 72 and 69, respectfully.

“I can’t keep up the place anymore,” he said.

After talking about selling the house for the last three to four years, it only took them a day to sell after putting it on the market last month. 

Susie Osacho, an Eden Prairie resident who works as the activities coordinator at a church in Edina, was looking for an older home in Shakopee with her fiancé Todd Seiler, the head of maintenance for Eagle Creek Townhomes.

The Steinhoffs’ house was listed about noon on a Friday last month. At about 5:15 p.m., Osacho spotted it and rushed over to drive past the house. She booked a 12:30 p.m. appointment for the next day, and before she even had a chance to peek at the well-cared-for home, a neighbor gave her the “lay of the land.” Osacho made an offer after viewing the house and it was accepted.

“We immediately fell in love,” she said. “It felt homey.”

Jerry is equally please with the “very nice young couple” inheriting his home and introduced the pair to neighbors at his garage sale last Friday. Osacho, who is Catholic and an accordionist, is already receiving invitations from parishioners to play at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

One of the attributes that drew Osacho to the house is that the Steinhoffs lived there so long.

Georgia said she and Jerry are one of the last couples from their era left on the west end. Many widows moved out after spouses died, she said.

The couple’s grandkids, James (9) and Grace (8) Kuhlmann, came from Grand Rapids last week for one last chance to stay at the house. They probably shed more tears Friday morning than their grandparents.

“There’s a lot of history in this house,” James said. “We went up here to say goodbye.”

Jerry Steinhoff tells Susie Osacho, the new owner of his house, about his time as a crew chief on an aircraft in the Air Force. He began serving near the end of the Korean War.

At the garage sale Friday, Jerry told stories about his dad, who was a block warden during World War II. When the whistle blew at night for mandatory blackouts, his father, who was issued a flashlight and wore an armband and helmet, checked the neighborhood to make sure all the lights were out.

Osacho encouraged the Steinhoffs and relatives to stop by any time and said the neighborhood is welcome to continue to call the home across from Holmes Park as the “Steinhoff house.”

Friday evening, the Steinhoffs gathered with their children and a couple of Jerry’s siblings, Virg Geske and Louis Steinhoff, who still live in Shakopee, for a goodbye party.

Jerry said his brother, a retired Scott County sheriff’s lieutenant, climbed into the attic, which was a special spot for Louis as a kid, to sit and think one last time.

Jerry and Georgia plan to move a half-mile away to Northridge Court this weekend. Georgia said residents there are excited for their arrival. 

Although they’ll be once again living near old friends, going from a house to an apartment will be a big adjustment.

 “It’ll be sad to leave, but life changes,” Jerry said. He tells his grandkids, “It’s like going from first to second grade.”

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.