Max Reiche Homestead
Phillips County
Born in Germany in 1884, Max Reiche emigrated to America in 1907 and worked on a Long Island dairy farm while he learned English. He spent the next several years traveling around the country riding freight trains and working in blacksmith shops before eventually settling in Haxtun where he started a shop in 1910 dealing farm implements.
Historic image from the Max Reiche Homestead.
On a trip to St. Louis, he married Alma Draeger and returned to Colorado to settle on his homestead where he and Alma raised six children. For better access to school and work, the family lived in town during the early years but moved back to the homestead in the late 1920s, living in a basement while the rest of the house was built.
Historic images from the Max Reiche Homestead.
The girls did the work of men, milking 14 cows and performing other chores. The family survived the Depression and the Dust Bowl, ever thankful for their chickens, eggs, cattle, milk, homemade sausage, and beer. In 1965 Max died in Denver. Today the property is owned by Marie Reiche Osborn and Norma Bailey’s daughters Janice Tubbiola, Brenda Girardi, and Kathy Higgins of Arvada.