Leffler farmhouse destroyed in controlled burn

    Washington bid farewell to an iconic house last weekend. The Leffler farmhouse that stood a block north of Case Field was burned to the ground in a controlled burn early Saturday morning. For many decades, the farm was a local tourist attraction for the people in town, who took their children to see and pet the animals on the farm.

    The farmhouse was built in 1939 by Darrell and Florence Leffler, who moved to Washington from Dixon, Ill. The Lefflers had three children: Ira, Willard and Sue. The family raised cows, goats and lambs on the farm. Willard remembers the attention the farm received from townspeople when he was growing up.

    ?The city kids didn?t know anything about what a farm looked like,? he said. ?Whenever there was a football game, a lot of folks stopped by to look at our animals.?

    Willard said there was a time when he and his family had 35 baby lambs and 35 baby goats, as well as 17 milk goats. 

For more, see our March 29 print edition.