Zenkner Valley where I grew up. It had many addresses – it first started out as a Rural Route with a Box number (Rte 2 Box 276). Then it became an actual street address (21903/21904 Zenkner Vly Rd SW).
Edward
William Kludt and his wife, Bernice Swinehart, purchased the 120 acre farm on
May 1, 1954 from Earl and Ann Shearer. Description of the property: NE quarter of the SE quarter of Section 20
and the north half of the SW quarter of Section 21, Township 15 North, Range 2
West, WM, excepting therefrom county roads known as McElfresh and Zenkner
Roads, in Thurston County, Washington.[1] They lived on the farm until 1957 when their
son, my father, William Edward Kludt and his wife, Joycelyn Bea Keesee, took over
the operations (not ownership).
In 1962, Bill &
Joyce purchased a dairy farm of their own in Rochester. They sold it in August 1967 and returned to
Zenkner Valley where they raised their children. They turned the farm into a beef
instead of dairy. In June 1975, Papa (Ed
Kludt) passed away and the farm came under the ownership of my dad, Bill Kludt.
I left the farm in the Spring of 1979. At that time, it still
had the rural route address. By the end of 1979, it became known as 21903
Zenkner Valley Rd SW. At the same time,
the folks decided to build a new home across the road (address was 21904
Zenkner Valley Rd SW). They moved in and
sold the farm house and barns (total of 40 acres) in June 1980. In 2005, they sold another portion of the
acreage (no buildings) known as the back 40.
In 2020, the folks
decided they could no longer take care of the remaining 40 acres that they
lived on nor could they be in a two-story home.
So, they purchased a home on the prairie and sold the remaining property
to the owners of 21903 Zenkner Valley Rd.
These same people had purchased a portion of the original back 40. So, an original 120 acre farm that was sold
in pieces is almost back together.
[1]
Various Deed Documents downloaded 4/23/26 from https://eagleweb.co.thurston.wa.us/thurstonrecorder/eagleweb/docSearchResults.jsp?searchId=3
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