Celebrating centennials

They know they’re out there.
But they need your help in identifying and locating them.
An informal committee put together by the organizers of the Classics Tent at the Jay County Fair is hoping to identify every centennial and sesquicentennial farm in Jay County.
And it hopes to get the project completed in time for Indiana’s bicentennial celebration in 2016.
“I hope everyone in the county can buy into this thing,” said Century Farm Committee co-chair Bob Lyons. “I think this is a good project, but it’s only as good as we can make it.”
This isn’t the first time there’s been an effort to identify farms that have stayed in the same family for 100 years or more. A similar effort in 1976 in conjunction with the American bicentennial celebration was led by the Jay County Historical Society and identified dozens of such farms locally.
Later, the state established the Hoosier Homestead Award and created its own set of standards for eligibility.
To receive a Hoosier Homestead Award, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 consecutive years, must consist of more than 20 acres, and must produce more than $1,000 annually in agricultural products.
More than 5,000 Indiana farms have received the Hoosier Homestead designation.
But over the years and with the transfer of property, a specific farm’s eligibility for Hoosier Homestead status can change. It’s very much a moving target.
“These farms have had five or six different last names attached to them,” said Lyons.
The state currently lists 63 Hoosier Homestead farms in Jay County, but it’s not clear if all still qualify. And there’s a good chance other farms do qualify but aren’t on the state’s list. To begin to clarify the picture, Lyons assembled a committee with individuals who have strong roots to specific townships: Dwain Michael, Bearcreek Township; Marianne Horn, Greene Township; Bill Horn, Jackson Township; Dick Nixon, Jefferson Township; Gordon Kesler, Knox Township; Ed May, Madison Township; Dick Kunkle, Noble Township; Carl Walker, Penn Township; Wanda Eley, Pike Township; Derek Rodgers, Richland Township; and Bob Schmit, Wabash Township.
“Those people would know their township better than anyone,” said Lyons.
But, he said, there’s still a chance that an eligible farm might be overlooked.
To prevent that, the committee had Display Craft create an 8-foot-by-8-foot map of Jay County.
Committee members will mark the known centennial and sesquicentennial farms on the map, which will be on public display during the fair in the Classics Tent. It’s hoped that the public will then step up with more information.
“We hope people will contact somebody to make this (map) more accurate,” said Lyons.
The map will then be displayed in 2016 during the Indiana bicentennial celebration, and Lyons hopes it will eventually be on display at Jay County Historical Museum and be updated on a regular basis.
For more information about the project, contact Lyons at (260) 251-2413 or co-chairs Paula Confer at (765) 209-4004 and Janet Powers at (260) 726-7158.
To download the state’s Hoosier Homestead Award application, go to https://secure.in.gov/isda/2337.htm.