Southern Minnesota Century Strong | October 2021 | C8
McVicker Farm filled with fond memories of childhood, sentimental value
By MICHELLE VLASAK michelle.vlasak@apgsomn.com
A
cross from Moland Lutheran Church in Merton Township sits a farmstead where George and Bessie McVicker once lived.
After marrying in 1918, George and Bessie moved to the 280-acre farm in 1919, purchasing it from C.A. and Ella Stromme. Grandson Gary Mentz recalls his grandparents painting a picture of what the conditions where like once they moved to the area. Right smack dab in the middle of a depression, they described life as very bleak. The newlyweds became very homesick and missed their family back in Iowa. Along with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic ravishing the world, the Great War in Europe was winding down. The pandemic in the United States occurred in three waves during 1918 and 1919. The first wave began in March 1918 and lasted throughout the summer of 1918. The more devastating second and third waves (the second being the worst) occurred in the fall of 1918 and the spring of 1919.
George and Bessie McVicker purchased the 280-acre farm from C.A. and Ella Stromme in 1919. The couple raised crops like wheat, oats, alfalfa, corn and beans, along with dairy cows, hogs, chickens and turkeys. (Photo courtesy of Gary Mentz)
The average price of Minnesota farm land more than doubled between 1910 and 1920, from $46 to $109 per acre. The McVickers purchased the farm for $125 an acre. Today, Minnesota’s farm real estate value, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $4,840 per acre, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Over the years, George and Bessie, who raised crops of wheat, oats, alfalfa, corn and beans, were fortunate enough to only have lost one crop from a hail storm in 1971. Along with the crops, they raised various animals: dairy cows,
Bessie and George McVicker celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1978. Pictured with George and Bessie are Marilyn, Gary & Gerhard Mentz. (Photo courtesy of Gary Mentz)
