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McVicker Farm fi lled with fond memories of childhood, sentimental value
McVicker Farm filled with fond memories of childhood, sentimental value
By MICHELLE VLASAK michelle.vlasak@apgsomn.com
Across 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.
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,
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 home of George and Bessie McVicker, built prior to their arrival in 1919, still stands today in Merton Township across from Moland Lutheran Church. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com) The farm is located near the four corners of Rice, Goodhue, Dodge and Steele counties, but is technically in Steele County and has a Kenyon address.
At the Steele County Free Fair this last August, the McVicker farm was honored for its century-farm status. Both the Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota State Fair work in conjunction on the Century Farm program to honor Minnesota families that have owned their farms for at least 100 years, are at least 50 acres in size and are currently involved in farming. Century Farm families receive a commemorative sign, as well as a certificate signed by the president of the State Fair, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Governor of Minnesota.
hogs, chickens and turkeys. Shortly after celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in 1978, George died.
Bessie, who continued to live on the farm until she was 100, died in 1988. Mentz inherited the farm, and still owns it to this day. Farmer Mark Arnold has rented the land since 1979, something Mentz finds pretty unusual for a farmer to have owned land for that long, especially considering the fact Arnold was young when he first began farming the land. Today, Arnold grows corn and beans on
Fond memories
As a young child, Mentz would make frequent trips out to the farm. In the
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