The Oliver H. Kelley Farm is a working 1860s farm. Visitors can meet the animals in the barn, help work in the fields and gardens, and see what’s cooking in the farmhouse. Highlights for us including stepping inside the pig sty, and running the old pump. Such fun!
The Minnesota Historical Society site is currently under construction, but they're still open. They've torn down the main interpretive center. Until the new one is opened at the end of Summer 2016, they're operating out of a temporary structure and have outhouses for the public.
Ever wonder where the rhyme "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" came from? Sleep tight -- don't let the ropes under your straw mattress get loose... Don't let the bed bugs bite -- hope there aren't any bed bugs in your straw mattress!
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| See the straw she pulled out of the mattress? |
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| See the ropes the mattress sat on? |
ABOUT OLIVER H. KELLEY
Oliver Hudson Kelley was from Boston, and like many Yankees, had migrated west as soon as he turned twenty-one. Although he knew little about farming in 1850, Kelley staked a claim at the new town of Itasca on the Mississippi River near present-day Elk River. He became a "book farmer," learning the latest farming techniques from agricultural journals. It was a legacy he would soon share. He campaigned eagerly for more experimentation, advanced methods and exchange of information among farmers, all of which he published.
Even though his farm was a show place of the neighborhood, by the 1860s Kelley became restless. In 1864 he moved to Washington D.C. where he took a job with the commissioner of agriculture and later the post office department. Kelley kept his farm in Minnesota and returned to it on occassion. But for the next few years he focused primarily on his idea of developing a fraternal organization for farm families.
On Dec. 4, 1867, Kelley and six of his friends, mostly other government workers, established the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange. Kelley returned to Minnesota early in 1868. Two of his daughters returned to the farm in 1876 and managed it during the summers until 1885. The Kelleys owned the farm until 1901.
IF YOU GO
15788 Kelly Farm Rd NW, Elk River, MN 55330
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