Sesquicentennial farms: Honoring 150 years of Minnesota farming

By Dick Hagen
The Land Staff Writer

August 15, 2008 03:18 am

— Every farm family has a history. Some are longer than others; all are to be proud of. The stories presented here tell of four families who have weathered the good and the bad. Most of all, they have survived.
Alternative uses, family still make this farm a home
A Sesquicentennial Farm that sports a batting cage in the century old barn each summer and a Barn Craft Sale each fall is the unique modern use of this particular Scott County farm.
This 200-acre property was originally settled by a Bauer in 1859. Their daughter Pauline married August Keup. They had three children, Fred, Mayme and Ida. Fred and wife, Irene, also had three children with daughter Lorraine inheriting the farm in 1966.
Lorraine Keup married Lloyd Schultz and raised a family of seven children. Brad, now 50, the third oldest, and wife, Sue, now occupy the original homestead. Five of these seven live in the Belle Plaine area but none are farming.
Sue and Brad have three sons, Patrick, 25, married to Jennie, is a teacher at Belle Plaine; Michael, 23, employed with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department; and Matt, 19, a second-year student at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Lloyd and Lorraine still own the farm land, however, Brad has a 35-cow beef herd selling calves as feeders each fall. Sue works for the Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative primarily changing and reading meters on a daily basis.
The original barn is still in use on this farmstead. Brad and Sue, married in 1981, rented the farmstead four years before purchasing in 1985.
“Most of the buildings are original. There isn’t a pole shed, or metal building, or Harvestor silo,” Sue said. “The grain building still has original wood siding and shingles. There’s no metal siding, no metal structures. We’ve tried to keep the buildings as they were when first built.”
The farmstead has a few century-old buildings. Sue said an uncle claims the house was built in the 1880s. It has stone walls and had an earth basement.
The house also has two separate staircases leading to the large upstairs because at one time, both sets of grandparents lived upstairs with August and Pauline and family living downstairs.
The barn is a traditional two-story barn with “drive up” unloading for the “hay mow” area. Today the old buildings provide winter boat storage rental.
The Purchase Agreement with the abstract of this particular farm made a bigger issue of the items, rather than the money, that were part of the purchase.
Sue said that there had to be so many pounds of potatoes, a side of beef, weekly egg production, so many gallons of milk produced weekly. “This was all written up in that purchase agreement when August Keup bought the farm from the Bauers,” she said.
Though the abstract history isn’t specific on this property, an older uncle told Sue that he thought if you lived on the original property a specified amount of time, the U.S. government deeded the property to the family free.
“The farm is really neat and we get a lot of use out of it that isn’t related to farming. My husband puts up a batting cage in the hay mow of the barn each summer for use by the local kids. Then each fall a friend rents the barn and uses it for a huge two-week ‘Barn Sale’. She has about 30 crafters that bring their works. The barn gets filled to the brim,” Sue said.
History important to family, so is maintaining farm
Because he’s on the Carver County Fair Board, Meldon Melcher shared pieces of history July 29 via cell phone in between “fix up” tasks at the Waconia fair location.
He’s a fourth generation family member on their Sesquicentennial Farm, which was originally settled by John and Kathryn Rolf as a 160-acre homestead in 1859. Purchase price was $12.50 an acre.
In 1884, son Sam Rolf bought the farm from his parents for $2,000. In 1887, Sam purchased an additional 80 acres for $3,100.
On May 25, 1923, the farm was transferred to Sam’s wife, Wilhemina because Sam had passed away. June 6 that same year, their sons Louis and Elford Rolf bought the farm for $12,000.
In 1963, their nephews, Louis, Elford and Sam Melcher bought the farm for $93.75 an acre. Their mother, Alma, was a sister to Elford and Louis Rolf. In 1971, Elford sold his share, and in 1977 the property became Melcher Farms, with Meldon and Marlin co-owners.
In 1991, Meldon and Marlin split the land with Meldon and Shirley now owning the 441-acres where they live.
“Our goal is to have our son, Todd, inherit this land from us,” Shirley said. Todd lives at home currently but is in the process of restoring another home that has been in the Melcher family since 1914.
Besides farming, Meldon also does sales and service work for Badger Farm Equipment. Like many in Carver County, Mel and Shirley used to milk, feed some cattle, as well as farrowed and fed out some hogs. Today they are cash crop farmers.
In 1960, Samuel and two brothers farming together bought the farm where Mel and Shirley reside today, which was the original Rolf homestead farm. A house built in 1934 is still being used by Mel and Shirley. The original farm house burned in early 1934.
Mel and Shirley had two sons, Todd, now 36, and Troy, killed in an auto accident when he was 10-years-old.
Todd drives truck today but his intentions are to become the next generation of this 150-year-old homestead when Mel retires.
Both Mel and Shirley have German ancestry; Shirley was a Rademacher prior to marriage.
“We’re proud to be descendants of a farm that dates back 150 years in Minnesota history. Meldon, Todd and I are all interested in history. My husband also enjoys restoring old tractors so tradition and hard work are just the life that he enjoys,” Shirley said.
Future of farm staying in the family looks bright
A “dug out’’ into a hillside adjoining a spring-fed creek was the first “structure” on the sesquicentennial farm of Joan and Harold Melhouse near Cannon Falls.
That was 1856, the year that Halvor Johnson, great-grandfather from Sweden settled on this 200-acre farm. Dated Aug. 9, 1856, the abstract lists the price at $2/acre for the property, which consisted of a 160-acre tract, plus another 40 across the road.
Like many early American immigrants, Halvor and wife, Anna Eide, were married in Sweden before migrating to America. In fact, Anna came to America two years ahead of Halvor because she had relatives in the Stoughton, Wis., area where she worked on their farm.
In the spring of 1857, she and Halvor, now also in America, got on board an oxcart caravan heading for what is now Leon Township in Goodhue County.
Grandparents Albin and Anna Lund were the next residents of the farm. They had four sons and two daughters. Daughter Alma married Burton Melhouse, who farmed near by. Albin and Anna continued farming the homestead with two other sons. Those two sons ran the farm until Harold took over. Alma and Burton raised four sons, the youngest being Harold who was supposed to be the daughter. “So I had long hair the first four to five years of my life,” Harold chuckled.
The current resident of this 151-year old farm is Regan Melhouse, one of four children raised by Joan and Harold.
Harold, now 71 and retired, started farming in 1961. Harold and Joan still live on their original farm. Mitchell lives on this same farm. Son Blaine lives on another neighborhood farm. All three sons have off-farm jobs but prefer country living for their families. Their daughter, Natalie, lives in Lakeville.
Will the Melhouse name continue indefinitely on this four-generation farm? Likely since Regan has four children, three of which are boys. Harold rented his farmland to a neighbor.
He and Joan hope to be at the State Fair for this special Sesquicentennial Recognition. Harold also just retired after 31 years as a township officer. Coincidentally, his grandfather, Albin, also was a Leon Township board member.
In 1857, Halvor built a two-story log house, which is now part of the unique “Rural America” restored village generated by Steve Bauer, south of Hastings. Still standing on the old farm site is a stonewall hog house and an older garage/shed structure.
Farming, politics have long family history
Six members of the Swenson clan in Nicollet County have served in the Minnesota State Legislature at various times and registered Holstein dairy cows have been a staple of the Swenson farm since 1885.
That’s when Swen Swenson came from Norway at the age of 21. Along with his parents, he homesteaded the original 160-acre farm and bought two registered Holstein heifers in Iowa. His parents homesteaded a mile away.
Today Howard and Jane Swenson, the fourth generation, and their son Paul and his wife, Cindy, Swenson, the fifth generation, live on that original Swenson farm.
Politics are indeed a family tradition. Swen served one term in the Minnesota State Legislature in the 1887.
Next was Oscar, son of Swen, (and one of nine children fathered by Swen) who served more than 30 years in the state legislature. He was also one of five who formed the Minnesota Dairy Industry, a predecessor to the American Dairy Association.
The most recent Swenson family member to serve was Howard who served 10 years, 1994-2004, as a Republican in the Minnesota House of Representatives, including two years as chairman of the House Agricultural Policy Committee.
In between there have been four other Swensons elected to the State Legislature, including Howard’s brother who also was a state representative concurrently with Howard and later was appointed as a district judge.
Howard’s father, Maurice, died of a heart attack when he was 45-years-old. Howard, only 15 at the time, and his mother, Alice, kept the farm going.
Howard was a 12-year board member of the Minnesota Holstein Association and also served on the local school board for 12 years.
Howard and Jane raised four daughters and one son — Julie, Janet, Nancy, Ruth and Paul. Today Paul, 45, and Cindy milk about 190 Holsteins, and farm about 650 acres. They have two adopted children, Christopher, 20, now in the U.S. Marines, and Ashley, a senior at Nicollet High School this fall.
Howard and Jane still live on the original Swenson homestead. Mostly retired, they take time now with family, church and community functions.
“We’re pleased that our family farm has this historical distinction and we intend to be at the State Fair for this special recognition event,” Howard said.
Sesquicentennial Farms to be honored
On May 11, Minnesota reached its 150th anniversary as the 32nd state of the United States of America.
In honor of the state’s sesquicentennial, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture is honoring farm families that made this state a leader in the agricultural industry. Specifically honored will be those families that have maintained ownership of their farmland for 150 years or more.
Sesquicentennial farm families have been invited to a special ceremony at the Minnesota State Fair 3 p.m. on Aug. 25. The ceremony will be held at the Sesquicentennial Performance Tent, located between Heritage Square and the Grandstand.
A display of sesquicentennial farms will be located in the adjacent Exhibit Tent from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Aug. 25. The display will be located in the Cattle Barn Moo Booth at the corner of Judson Avenue and Stevens Street the remaining days of the fair.

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