Explore Map » Stories

This was my Aunt and Uncle's farm in Indianola, Iowa. My Uncle's father built the big farmstead around 1900. He was known in the area as the "Flyin' Farmer" because he raced midget race cars during the 1920's-1930's and was featured in many Iowa State Fair race programs. His name was Dwight Peck.

I inherited this farm from my mother and stepfather. Its not every day a young man can have two great fathers and one great mother in a lifetime but i did. This photograph will hang in this home and will be passed on to my two girls when I am gone.

This is the Stitz Century Farm as it was in its prime in the 1980’s. Occupied and managed by Mike and Donna Stitz, it was one of the select area producers of corn, soy beans, and feeder pigs. The many chores were divided among the eleven children who truly enjoyed growing up on the farm. Hard work, hard play, and a beer to end the day.

We always wanted a picture of the farm like it was when we purchase it, and now we will have one. We bought the farm from the Melvin & Lydia Schmidt in 1967. And the Vintage Aerial company was great too work with, and Gary Brinkmeier was great person to work with.

My family moved to the farm when I was seven, in 1955. The old farm house was a shack, with electricity the only utility. Mom cooked on a kerosene stove, and I still remember the delicious smell of potatoes and onions frying, mingled with the smell of burning kerosene. We spent one winter in the drafty house with a wood stove for heat, and the following summer Dad, with what help the rest of us (an older brother and two older sisters) could give him, built the house pictured. It is much smaller now than when I was a child. Dad built the barn on the left with lumber salvaged from a building from our place at Maize, Ks when we moved, (the distant structure on the left did not exist). The existing barn was in as bad a shape as the house had been, and when I was around 12, we removed everything above the first level and built back on that a larger barn that was not so tall. That is the other barn in the photo. Dad planted the row of cedar trees along the road to the left and right to serve as a windbreak, but Mom wouldn’t let him plant them in front of the house. When I was 16, the old chicken house had gotten in such bad shape that I tore it down and used the lumber to build a smaller new chicken house.

We hand-dug the trench to pipe water from an old hand dug well about 500 ft down the hill where our garden area was, and similarly plumbed gas in from across the road. Having running water was wonderful, but we continued using the outhouse to save the electricity it would take to pump the water to the house. Gas was expensive and we used it only for cooking and a little bit for heat when it was extremely cold. We still heated with wood, but only the living area of the house, the bedrooms were unheated. We moved to a smaller farm when I was 18, but this place, where I grew up roaming the hills and valleys and swimming in the pond, is home.

My husband and I bought this farm in 2006 from Fritz Larson. At the time of this photo, Fritz owned this farm and milked cows here. His parents owned it prior, but were killed June 4, 1958 along with his baby brother when an F5 tornado ripped through these hills. That tornado is now known as "The Black Terror" as it killed over 20 people that day. Fritz took over the farm after his parents died with the help of a couple uncles. Fritz rebuilt all the outbuildings as the house was the only thing standing after the tornado went through.

It's amazing to see this because it's so similar to what we own today. The little cement silo was taken down for a large Harvestore. Also, the pine trees along the left side of the house must have fallen at one point because we have much smaller trees there not. There is no door on the front of the house, and the garage shown was torn down to put up an attaged garage on the back of the house. The small grain bin is no longer there as well. Now we have a chicken coop in which we built standing there. In that circle part of the yard, there are two tall pine trees with a little flower bed around them. There are also some trees along the road right in front of the house. The sheds look about the same, and the barn is pretty close to the same as well!

It is so awesome to see this. I hope our neighbors check for some of their farms as this is a great way to perserve family history!

We purchased this farm in 2006 at an Estate Auction, in Van Wert Ohio, for our son who was serving in Iraq. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he moved to California instead and we were left to fix it up and "sell" it. We discovered many things about this farm during our renovation. It was owned by a man named Jim Johnson. He was a steer farmer that lived here his whole life. He sold the land around the home piece by piece and must have made a pretty penny. He left $1.6 million to the Van Wert County Foundation. The original home was built with Army pay from the Civil War. The former surrounding woods is where all of the lumber was harvested. He was married, but his wife has already passed away and he had one daughter who preceded him in death as well. She died from cancer. It wasn't until *after* we purchased it that we realized that there was no electricity upstairs... that was our first order of business! We added new heating and cooling systems, converted a bedroom upstairs to a bathroom, painted, removed old carpeting and discovered beautiful hardwood floors. Jim had replaced all of the windows at some point and added a roomy kitchen, bath, laundry room, breezeway and oversized 2 car garage which, based on the decor, 1950's. The original part of the home still sports a slate roof with original lightening rods. The roof remains in EXCELLENT condition. The addition needed to be re-roofed which we did. This piece of property is peaceful and calm. We love the quiet and the home. We will have a huge garden, chickens and dairy goats on the property. We feel priviledged to continue living on the "Old Johnson Farm"

My grandparents Marvin & Marie Flickinger purchased this farm in 1967. This is also where my parents were living when I was born in 1972. The house on the north (left) was actually a barracks from Camp Ellis in Fulton County. Camp Ellis was an Army/POW camp during WWII. Coincidentally I now live in Fulton County close to where Camp Ellis was. My parents purchased this farm in 1980, shortly after my grandfather passed away. My dad still lives on the farm. Although it has changed over the years I can still remember it the way you see it.

Fred & Margaret Molzahn, my parents, purchased this farm from a friend in 1946. I was 6 years old at the time. This was after the depression, so they struggled for many years to keep it, but now my family of 8, and their families enjoy their dedication. Built in 1843.

We just got the pictures yesterday. They are awesome! The 1968 is our favorite. It shows more what the place was in it's prime. The 1995 picture would have been right before the previous owners started to fix up the place again. If we ever get the place done, I hope to have another picture done to put with the two you sent us. Thank you for your help!