Michigan Family Farms and Farm Buildings: Landscapes of the Heart and Mind

Notes

notes introduction 1. See Hemalata Dandekar, Robert M. Darvas, and Eric Allen MacDonald , Structural Preservation and Adaptive Reuse of Michigan Barns (College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1992); and Hemalata Dandekar and Eric MacDonald, “Preserving the Midwestern Barn,” in A. G. Noble and H. G. Wilhelm, eds., The Midwestern Barn (Ohio University Press, 1995), 259–77. 2. In Dandekar Hemalata and Daniel F. Schoof, “Michigan Farms and Farm Buildings: 150 Years of Transformation,” Inland Architecture, January /February, 1988, 61–67, Michigan farms are categorized into five types to reveal how farm architecture is related to the market, the commodities produced , mode of production, mechanization, and the technology of building construction. For a material analysis of farm architecture, see Allen G. Noble , Wood, Brick and Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape, Vol. 1, Houses; Vol. 2, Barns and Farm Structures (University of Massachusetts Press, 1984). For an economic analysis of agricultural production see Willard W. Cochrane, The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis (University of Minnesota Press: 1979). 3. See Hemalata Dandekar, “Farm Type in the American Midwest: A Reflection of Government Policies,” in Karen Franck and Lynda Schneekloth, eds., Type and the Ordering of Space (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1995), 97–116. Also Dandekar with John A. Savitski, “The Silo: A Century of Experimentation on the Michigan Farm,” Chronicle: Quarterly Magazine of the Historical Society of Michigan 25, no. 3 (Winter 1989); and Dandekar, “The Midwestern Farm,” in Paul Oliver, ed., Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World (Cambridge University Press, 1997). part 1 1. Jonathan Marwil, A History of Ann Arbor (University of Michigan Press, 1991). Although most groups were absorbed into the Ann Arbor community , the Germans retained a separate identity. They learned English but kept their German language, their churches, and their own service organizations . See also Dale R. Herter and Terry Stollsteimer, A History of the German Settlers in Washtenaw County, 1830 to 1930, http://www.rootsweb.an cestry.com/~miwashte/washtenawgermansettlerhistory.pdf. Notes to Pages 3–9 259 chapter 1 1. We obtained the state historical society listing of Centennial Farms and plotted them onto county maps. But locating rural property precisely is not always possible. A listing as a Centennial Farm confirms continuous ownership of the farm by one family. It does not speak to the quality or age of the architecture. We visited farmsteads to visually assess this. 2. See Hemalata Dandekar with Mary Bockstahler, “The Changing Farmscape : A Case Study of German Farmers in Southeast Michigan,” Michigan History, March/April, 1990, 42–47; and Dandekar, “The Raab Farmstead,” in K. Eckerts, ed., Buildings of Michigan (Bureau of History, 1993), 154. 3. Mr. Rolland J. Raab, age 82, and his wife, Mrs. Helga (Lueckhoff) Raab, were later interviewed in the apartment they then shared on the eastern edge of Ann Arbor on March 10, 1987. His descriptions of the farm are taken from this interview. 4. Mr. Raab is referring to a book often called the Centennial Farm Book in which families like the Raabs who owning their land for a hundred years or more have obtained a State of Michigan Centennial Farm designation and have had entries published in Mary L. Wermuth, Michigan’s Centennial Family Farm Heritage: A Sesquicentennial History (Michigan Centennial Farm Association , 1986), 233. Mr. Raab provided a careful summary of land transactions beginning on October 15, 1832, when some 75 acres were given by the U.S. government to one Eleazer Porter. They were later sold by Eleanor Porter to one Mr. Millham for 101 dollars. On August 22, 1850, Volney and Cloe Chapin sold some 95 acres of the land to Jacob Raab for 700 dollars. The Raabs had a mortgage for half this amount, 350 dollars, held by Volney Chapin. The property changed hands nine times between 1832 and 1850, appreciating sevenfold in 18 years. Following this period of land boom and speculation, the Raab family held the land and made a life on it. 5. From 1888 to 1911 Anna Elizabeth, Mr. Raab’s grandmother, owned the farm. He recalled spending a lot of time with her from his birth in 1905 until she died. Mr. Raab’s father, Theodore, owned the farm from 1911 to 1926, followed by his mother, Lydia, who owned it from 1926 to 1959. The two brothers, Oscar and Rolland, owned the farm jointly from 1959 until Oscar ’s death in 1967. In 2008 Ronald Raab was sole owner. 6. This drop-by visit on...