At first glance, Arthur, Nebraska, looked like any other small prairie town. But a September 1956 issue of Ford Times revealed that beneath its modest exterior was something truly unexpected: homes, a church, and other buildings constructed from hay bales.

Built in western Nebraska’s remote Sandhills region, Arthur’s 170 residents relied on their own creativity when traditional building materials were difficult and expensive to obtain. Their solution? Use what you’ve got, and in their case, that meant hay. The result was a collection of hay bale homes and a church that remain some of the most unusual examples of American ingenuity.

Writer Edith Thompson Hall traveled to Arthur to see these hay bale homes herself. There she met county treasurer Joe Monhart, who casually mentioned that his own house was built from hay, while the county clerk pointed out that he lived in a home made from railroad ties. Curious, Hall visited the Monhart house and found stacked hay bales and thick mortar joints where a patch of stucco had fallen away.

In Arthur, necessity truly became the mother of invention, and nearly 70 years later, the tale remains a fascinating snapshot of rural American life and the inventive spirit that helped communities thrive in unexpected ways.

Read the story via the Ford Times archive, September 1956. Browse more at FordHeritageVault.com.