"The First Homestead" by Gusta Strohm

This painting was created in 1888 in Beatrice, Nebraska by Gusta Strohm. It depicts America’s first homesteading family in front of their log cabin on the site of America’s first homestead. It was painted when the Freeman family had been living on their homestead for 25 years. The Freeman family homestead is now the present-day site of Homestead National Historical Park.

This painting was exhibited at multiple venues in the late nineteenth-century before being stored at the U.S. Capitol building. Nebraska State Respresentative Charles Sloan found it and shipped it to Lincoln and donated it the Nebraska State Historical Society in 1917. Almost a century later it was transferred to Homestead National Monument of America in 2011.

Conservation Work

Left image
Painting before conservation treatment
Credit: Ford Conservation Center/Kenneth Be

Right image
Painting after conservation treatment
Credit: Ford Conservation Center/Kenneth Be

In 2019, the 131 year old painting was conserved by the Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Kenneth Be, head of the Paintings Conservation Laboratory restored the painting. He made the it more secure by mending the holes and distortions, lining the canvas to a more stable support canvas. Finally he cleaned it with aqueous-based cleaning solutions to restore brighter colors and the original artistic intent.

This project was completed thanks to the generous support from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Friends of Homestead, and the skilled labor of the Ford Conservation Center.

Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Homestead NM staff stand in front of window displaying the conserved painting on display at the park.

NPS Photo

This historic painting of Daniel Freeman's homestead is a valuable part of our national cultural heritage. The Major Isaac Sadler-La Belle Vue chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored the grant to conserve this painting. The project met the DAR Special Project Grant focus of historic preservation, education, and patriotism.

About the Artist

Augusta Randall Strohm, known as Gusta, was a late 19th century artist from Ohio. She lived for several years in Beatrice, Nebraska beginning in 1886. During her short time in the area, she made a strong impression with the quality of her artwork.

This painting is a horizontal view of the Freeman family homestead with a log house and fencing. In the background is Agnes Freeman and a child while Daniel Freeman is in the foreground wearing a black hat and suit.

The painting frame is made from the “last log of the house” from Freeman's original log cabin according to its plaque. Strohm painted another image linked to the Freeman site of “the new comfortable mansion in which Mr. Freeman now resides...” but its whereabouts are unknown (Portrait and Biographical Album of Gage County, Nebraska, 1888, p. 523).

History of the Painting

1888- The First Homestead was painted, signed, and dated

“Mrs. W.C. Strohm of this city (Beatrice) is now painting a large picture of the old homestead and the new and comfortable mansion in which Mr. Freeman now resides, which will be forwarded to Mrs. John A. Logan, at her request and placed among her great collections of antiquities and relics.” (Portrait and Biographical Album of Gage County, Nebraska, 1888, p.523)

June 1888- Sent to Mrs. John A. Logan in Washington D. C. John A Logan was in the U.S. Congress when the homesteading bill was introduced and discussed.

“Mrs. W. C. Strohm, of Beatrice, Neb., has painted and sent to Mrs. John A. Logan a picture of the first homestead taken in the United States. The land is five miles west of Beatrice, and was taken by Daniel Freeman, who still lives on it, on January 1, 1863. The picture will be placed by Mrs. Logan in the Corcoran art gallery.” (Washington Post, June 2, 1888)

August 1888- Sent to the U. S. Capitol to be displayed

“A large oil painting of the first homestead in the country which was located in Gage county, Neb., by Daniel Freeman, has been delivered to the architect of the capitol, as is usually the custom in such cases by Congressman McShane in behalf of the Nebraska delegation in Congress. The gift of the picture will be taken into consideration by the joint committee on library at the next meeting in all probably when it will be accepted in the regular form and its place on the walls will be assigned.” (Gage County Democrat, August 2, 1888)

1893- Possibly exhibited at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in the Women’s Building. The other Strohm painting of Freeman’s brick house may have been the one exhibited.

“In the beautiful collection of Mrs. Gen. John A. Logan at the World’s Columbian Exposition, one of Mrs. Strohm’s oil paintings held a place of honor.” (Seneca Advertiser, March 9, 1894).

Unknown date- Placed in the U.S. capitol basement

1916-17- Found by Congressman Charles H. Sloan in the Capitol basement

“A mammoth oil painting in the United States is on exhibition at the state historical rooms on the Lincoln university campus. The picture is seven feet, ten inches in length and four, feet seven inches high, and is surrounded by a seven-inch frame of wood said to be taken from a log in the log house, which was erected thereon. . . .The picture was found in the basement of the capitol at Washington by Congressman Charles H. Sloan of the fourth district of Nebraska and was boxed and forwarded to the Nebraska society. It was painted by Gusta S. Strohm in 1888 and is a splendid representation of the old log cabin and the old fence and outbuildings.” (St. Joseph Observer, March 11, 1917)

1917- Donated to the Nebraska State Historical Society by Charles Sloan

July 2011- Transferred to Homestead National Monument of America

2019- Conserved by the Ford Conservation Center

Feb 2020- returned the Homestead National Monument of America