Hallstrom House Museum and Farmstead — Attraction in Florida

The Hallstrom House was built by Axel Hallstrom for his wife Emilia. After immigrating from Sweden to Minneapolis and making money with the railroad his wife Emily fell ill with tuberculosis. The doctor recommended a warm climate so the family headed to Florida in 1904. Emily died a few years later in 1908 when they began construction on the house Axel designed on a 40 acre pineapple plantation. Axel was left a single parent with a four year old daughter named Ruth. Axel went on to be a successful pineapple and citrus farmer. He made a fortune when he was the president of the St. Lucie bank. He loved to take Ruth on trips to Europe and he filled his home with treasures they found making his home the envy of everyone in Indian River County. The house was completed in 1918 and both Axel and Ruth lived in it until their deaths. In later years Ruth cared for her father and an aunt and never married. When she passed away in 1999 she left the house to the Indian River Historical Society where she was a charter member.

An interesting fact about this house is that it may be the only Florida house to have a basement. The house was built on the Atlantic Ridge which is a hill which allowed for a basement to be dug underneath the house. The bricks that cover the exterior of the house are from Georgia. Other features of the house are a wide front porch with ceramic pineapples which Axel grew on his property. Upstairs is a widows peak overlooking Dixie Hwy which for many years was the only road in town. Inside the home are five paintings of Florida scenes done by Alfred Hair of the Florida Highwaymen.

Today you can pay the Hallstrom House a visit and see how wealthy Floridians lived at the turn of the century. The house is open weekdays 1 to 4 and on the last Saturday of the month. Admission is a suggested...

In the early 1900s, Swedish immigrant and horticulturist Axel Hallstrom sought the warm climate of Florida for his wife's health and moved to this area to from tropical trees and fruits. He first planted pineapples on his new farmstead, in the area known as the olden Ridge, but gradually converted the plantation into a citrus grove. By 1918, Hallstrom had completed his brick home. In the 1930s, he became director of the St. Lucie County Bank and kept it open during the Great Depression. Due to his dedication and support of Swedish-American relations during the 1930s and through World War II, the King of Sweden awarded Hallstrom the Royal Order of Vasa in 1958. Hallstrom's only child, Ruth, continued her father's legacy of involvement in the community. She traveled by boat from Oslo, Florida, up the Indian River to teach in a one-room school house in Orchid. Upon her death in 1999, Ruth bequeathed the house to the Indian River Historical Society, and in 2002, the Hallstrom House was listed on the National Register of Historical Places. In 2015, pineapple slips from some of Hallstrom's original plants came home to the Golden Ridge, and...

The Holstrum House is a time capsule of three lives spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Inside visitors come face to face with the people who built full and rich lives that began in the tin covered barn across the street. They will meet the man who was driven by an ethic born of excellence. They find a sister who's devotion was poured into the family she served. They walk with the woman who traveled the world, spoke five languages, expressed herself in culture, and contributed to what makes the area a true community. Visitors enter into an American home with roots firmly in a Scandinavian culture. The story connects railroad barons, industry creators, Bahamians, Cubans, Seminole Indians, ranchers, bankers, and service to the family's homeland of Sweden. The Holstrum House is an example of the power of a family's imprint on the time and space they...