Considered Skokie's oldest structure, the log cabin was built by Nicholas and Elizabeth Meyer circa 1847 near the northwest corner of Lincoln Avenue and Gross Point Road. Its logs were cut from oak and walnut trees found along the Des Plaines River, some weighing as much as 1,000 pounds, and the material between them was a mix of lake sand, horse hair, clay, straw, and water. The Meyers used a cast iron stove for cooking and heating. Nicholas Meyer came to the United States from Switzerland, and Elizabeth Meyer emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region in Western Europe. After living in the southern United States, they settled in Skokie, then known as Niles Centre, and raised eight children in the 16 foot by 24 foot structure. The children slept on the second floor on straw covered by animal skins, and their son Samuel Meyer later recalled that the cabin stood in the midst of forest, where pigs fattened on acorns, blueberries were plentiful, and deer hung nearby. Nicholas Meyer became a successful farmer and wheel maker. Later the family built a residence near present day East Prairie Road and Greenleaf Street, where Elizabeth Meyer gave birth to four more children. Around 1875, Jacob Meyer, who was born in 1857, the year his father Nicholas died, moved back into the cabin with his new bride, Margaret Harrer. Over the years the cabin was altered for use as a chicken coup, garage, and shed, and its last private owner discovered it under metal siding. After researching its origins, the owner deeded the cabin to the Village of Skokie in 1974. The cabin was then moved to storage until a new location could be found. In 1982, reconstruction began at its present site, and it was pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle using the same materials and tools the Meyers would have used in 1847. Its interior furnishings are similar to those the Meyer family would have used in the mid to late 1800s.