Monica Häggström (Nissen) from Närpes Finland contacted us today. Her brother Håkan Nissen happened upon our garden blog researching their family's Finnish-American history. It turns out the house adjacent to the garden was built by their uncle, Joseph Nissen, a Finnish immigrant from Närpes. Monica included a photo from their last trip to the USA which shows the two houses that once stood where the garden is now. The house their uncle built is now part of the Finlandia University campus and is known as "The Ryan House". Fun to learn a little bit of history!
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| (From left) Monica, Jon Nissen, and Håkan Nissen standing on Ryan Street in 2002 showing the house their uncle Joseph NIssen built (first house) and the two houses that once stood where the community garden is now. |
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| The same view today (2014) with The Ryan House (Nissen House) in the foreground next to the garden. |
