The Halla farmstead was originally located in Hyrynsalmi, Kainuu, in the eastern part of central Finland. The main building was inhabited until 1958.

The master of the house, J.A. Heikkinen (1863-1938), served multiple terms as a member of Parliament. He is known as "Halla's old man" and was a notable supporter of Finland’s independence movement, a reformer of agriculture, and a revivalist of reindeer husbandry in the Hyrynsalmi area.

During the First World War, a group of young men left Finland for military training in Germany. These men, called "jääkäri," risked imprisonment as traitors if caught because Finland was part of Russia at the time. There were safe houses all over the country where men on their way to become jääkäri could hide. Halla was one of these stopping-over places.