The construction of this sod house was first planned in 1971, but it was not until 1979 that the late Ernest Wickstrom and Merle Olson got enough cooperation and support to begin the construction. The house was designed as a heritage project for Celebrate Saskatchewan, to pay homage to the pioneer spirit and become part of the 1980 Tompkins Homecoming. Most of the sod came from the coulee about two miles south west of Tompkins and some came from about twenty miles north at the Gerry and Carrie Olson ranch.

The sod must have moist topsoil and a large number of roots and has to be forty centimeters wide which requires an old style plough with a breaker - bottom moldboard (hard to locate in this day and age). The cut of the plough has to lift the sod to an even thickness of about nine centimeters which provides and adequate amount of root structure with out making the sod too heavy and cumbersome to handle. Wickstrom, Olson and their crew had this three metre by four metre sod house constructed for the 1980 homecoming. The Tompkins Sod House took seven months to build but it will stand for a number of years with a little bit of maintenance each spring. It features an old style bed, a pot belly stove, a table and a few other items and outdoors is a working plough, wooden wheelbarrow, a well with signs pointing to neighboring centres and a welcome sign.

The house is open for the visiting public at any time from Victoria Day weekend in May to Thanksgiving weekend in October, weather permitting. Many tourist and guided tours visit this sod house and enjoy learning about how the pioneers lived. It is through the voluntary work of the citizens of Tompkins and District that this Sod House is kept up.

Sod Houses were a popular and practical form of shelter used by many homesteaders during their first years on the treeless prairies. They were small but comfortable year round. The thick sod kept the heat in during the winter and in the summer the heat was kept out.

Some settlers began building their sod houses by digging a hole while others used the side of a hill for a wall which in both cases, provided excellent insulation and a sturdier construction. Sometimes a few days following a heavy rain moisture would seep through the sod which caused a moisture problem inside and almost made their homes uninhabitable.