Oliver H Kelley Farm
15788 Kelley Farm Rd
Elk River, MN 55330
(763) 441-6896

One of the Minnesota Historical Society's National Historic Landmark sites.

The Oliver Hudson Kelley Farm

Oliver Kelley staked a claim near the trading post town of Itasca just east of present day Elk River, Minnesota in 1850.  While Itasca faded away, Oliver Kelley's farm went on to become the birthplace of organized agriculture in the United States.  Kelley's farming experiences here led to the development of the first successful, national agricultural organization in the country: The Patron's of Husbandry, or the Grange.

Today, this National Historic Landmark comes alive with programs led by trained, professional historic interpreters as visitors experience the lifestyle of the Kelley family in the 1860's.  Visitors are encouraged to participate in farming and domestic activities as part of their experience.

In the restored house, visitors can help staff with domestic activities such as baking, pickling, sewing or laundry.  In the recreated gardens and fields, visitors help plant, tend and harvest the same crops and vegetables grown here over 130 years ago.  Visitors meet sheep, hogs, horses and cattle in the barnyard and animal pens, and help the farm hands as they tend the crops using horses and oxen.

Kelley's Original 189 acre homestead is parceled into 40 acres under cultivation, 60 acres of restored prairie and 89 acres in woodlands and along the Mississippi River.  Nature Trails meander through the prairie and woodland for the visitor's enjoyment.

Excerpt from a biographical article on Oliver H Kelley by Rhoda R. Gilman and Patricia Smith as published on the MHS web site:

When "Father" Oliver H. Kelley died in Washington, D.C., at the age of eighty-seven he was a revered patriarchal figure to most American farmers. He was the grand old man of the National Grange, which he had founded in 1867 and served as secretary for eleven years. From its beginnings in Minnesota, the organization had spread across the Midwest like wildfire during the hard decade of the 1870s, and it had been the first of many groups to cry out on behalf of the depressed and debt-ridden farmer. It had also pointed the way to a fuller social life and a broader educational base in the nation's agricultural communities. ...

Continue reading the article...

Farm Life

Did they really have to wash clothes like that?
 

Animals on the Farm

Meet some of our favorite hosts at the farm
 

Farm Buildings and History

See pictures, maps and stories of the Farm itself
 

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Copyright © 2003-2008 Friends of the Kelley Farm
Last modified: 08/30/08