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• of the township. The Farzekas were the first of a substantial <br /> group of relatives and friends who settled here,many of whom <br /> became dairy farmers.13 <br /> Oliver H.Kelley <br /> Elk River's best-known farmer was Oliver H.Kelley(1826- <br /> 1913).A native of Boston,in 1850,Kelley made a claim at the <br /> southeastern edge of the township in Section 14.14 A leader in <br /> founding local agricultural societies,he turned to journals to <br /> learn new farming methods. In 1867,he founded the National <br /> Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry,an <br /> organization that would have one million members by 1875. <br /> The Grange was among a number of farmers'protest <br /> organizations and movements in the mid-neteenth century.It <br /> was a response to farmer's struggles with in <br /> new technology and <br /> falling market prices for crops and livestock.In addition to its <br /> political and fraternal work,the Grange promoted <br /> experimental farming and other progressive agricultural <br /> practices. Kelley was the author of Origin and Progress of the <br /> Order of the Patrons of Husbandry(1875).'The Kelley family <br /> owned the farm until 1901,although Oliver left Minnesota in <br /> the late 1860s to pursue Grange activities.The <br /> Grange purchased the farm in 1935 and donated it to the <br /> Minnesota Historical Society in 1961. <br /> " , Kelley H <br /> " '' .* looked inv 1930Kell. This was ouse the <br /> farmuse on the site.as it <br /> 0 , <br /> Photo:second MHS.ho <br /> , 1 ', ,,,.,,Am..''r. :1,44 ,'S 4,),..:Y4 A, 9.----- <br /> ., ,i. .„ - , <br /> „,,..,0-, -,„ ,,,P $ R <br /> . # <br /> , l i ' ,I,,' `mss t f <br /> f F � ":' 'L <br /> j..._ <br /> �\ t ', gyp$p 46 ,' ? <br /> 4 0 e 99" 4, i4. <br /> Sherburne County recorded 110 farms in 1860;by 1880 the <br /> number rose to 599;to 775 in 1890;1,054 in 1900;and 1,190 in <br /> 1910.16 (In 1992,the number of farms was 530.)By 1910,the <br /> average Sherburne County farm was 172 acres,considerably <br /> larger than Isanti and Anoka and Wright and Hennepin <br /> counties,but comparable to Stearnes and other counti es to the <br /> west.17 A total of eighty-two percent were operated by <br /> owners.18 <br /> • <br /> Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 5/2002 <br /> 10 <br />