PHOTO: Leone Callahan, 82, stands in front of her home on Stamy Road north of Hiawatha. The house, built in 1867, has been her home all her life. (Gazette photo by L.W. Ward)

Hiawatha's urban sprawl continues its relentless march north toward the once isolated 150-year-old Monroe Township homestead of the Daniel Albaugh family.

Albaugh's great-granddaughter, Leone Callahan, is not pleased at the prospect of increased traffic and noise. Callahan, an energetic 82, has lived all her life in the 1867 vintage, double-walled brick home built by Albaugh.

For years the quiet was disturbed only by an occasional car on the country road or the light hum of traffic on old Highway 150 a couple of miles away. But noise and traffic will be nearly at Callahan's doorstep once the nearby extension of Tower Terrace Road is paved and opened.

''I don't like it,'' Callahan says. ''What are people going to eat if they set in all these houses and buildings? There won't be any ground to plant anything.''

She's fiercely proud of the two-story, 10-room home that has housed generations of her family. It was home to two and sometimes three families for more than 100 years until 1970. The house has withstood the ravages of nearly 130 years of harsh winters and searing summers -- and two tornadoes in the past seven years. The last, three years ago, took part of the roof. It all began with Daniel Albaugh, who was born in Blair County, Pa., on April 17, 1813. He came to Iowa, settled on the Monroe Township property on May 6, 1846, buying his first 80 acres from the government for $1.25 an acre. He eventually owned 200 acres. Callahan has records that show taxes on the farm in 1859 were about $17.

The first dwelling was a log cabin, followed by a frame house. But Albaugh had 11 children and the big brick home was built in 1867 using brick made on another farm he owned near Robins.

An old Linn County history book shows that over a 30-year period, Albaugh served in all the Monroe Township offices.  He was described as kind and having a reputation of ''uprightness'' in dealings.

Callahan recalls several of her ancestors had large families, but she was an only child and has just two children herself, Judith Kelly and Carol Jean Whitters.  But she's proud of her 13 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren with another expected soon.

The farm is now about 91 acres. Some land was sold, some taken by utilities, and two acres by the county for the road.

Callahan's late husband, James, who died in 1989 after 55 years of marriage, worked for years at Linkbelt in Cedar Rapids. ''He didn't care about farming,'' she says, so the farm was rented. Don Stamy of Marion, whose ancestors became Albaugh's neighbors back in 1865, farmed the property for about 30 years. Callahan's son-in-law, Paul Whitters of Western, now operates it as a sod farm.