Moving house: Rectory leaves churchs ground for new home

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Weighing in at 220,000 pounds and stretching 38 feet across two lanes of traffic, the former St. Joseph Church rectory from Le Mars made its way on a 17-mile journey to its new home northeast of Hinton where the Ken and Donna Bliek family will live in it. [Click to enlarge]

It's a strange feeling watching your house move down the road.

That's what Donna Bliek said Wednesday after seeing her new 220,000 pound home lumbering down Highway 3.

In August, she and her husband Ken Bliek purchased the former St. Joseph Church rectory -- a massive brick house located in northeastern Le Mars -- with plans to move it to land near Hinton and make it their family home.

This week, those plans became reality.

Movers hoisted the building, stripped of its brick exterior and a small addition, onto wheels and maneuvered it on a 17-mile journey to its new foundation on Jade Avenue 2 miles northeast of Hinton.

Move U, a structure-moving company based in Kingsley and Sioux City, started moving the house Tuesday, but it was slow going because the ground was soft.

"The biggest obstacle has been the rain," said Tim Badgerow, of Move U.

At 7 a.m. Wednesday, the crew was back to work. MidAmerican Energy crews, along with six of their lift trucks, joined them on the scene to take down electrical wires in the way or raise them up to allow the 30-foot tall house to pass.

Two hours later, a semi-tractor pulled the former rectory the two blocks to Highway 3.

It was time to hit the road.

The route was a round-about one to get to Hinton. The house left town heading east on Highway 3, then south on Nature Avenue and other gravel roads to K-49, then C-44 to K-42, and finally onto Jade Avenue.

Badgerow said that route was best based on how many electrical wires they'd have to cross.

The rambling journey took more than five hours.

"We go whatever speed we can, but on average we get about 5-7 mph," Badgerow said.

Law enforcement officers stopped traffic ahead of the house, which at 38 feet wide took up both lanes. Electric crews traveled with the caravan and moved wires as needed.

"I was surprised it took so long," Bliek said. "I guess it's never a hurried up deal when you're doing something like that."

The Blieks brought their three daughters, whom they homeschool, to watch their new house move.

"It looks big going down the road," Bliek said. "We're anxious to get in it. We'll be moving the addition maybe next week and move in hopefully next month sometime. There's a lot of reconnecting to do."

St. Joseph Church's parish had been seeking to move the rectory to allow for construction of a new church in a few years. The rectory was built in the 1970s.

A 1905 school building, located next to the former rectory, was demolished last summer to make room for the new, larger church as well.

Bliek said her family was thankful for sunshine after waiting through weeks of rainy weather to move the house.

"It was a beautiful day for it," Bliek said. "And we're thankful for all the help. Everybody was pitching in. There were a lot of men out there working."

For Move U, transporting a structure this big is all a day's work, Badgerow said.

"We'll be moving the Hinton golf clubhouse later this month," he said. "We do this every day."