In 2011, eighteen Colorado families who have owned and operated their farm or ranch for 100 years or more were honored.  To mark the 25th Anniversary of Colorado’s Centennial Farms, History Colorado and BARN media shared the stories of some of our most recent Centennial Farmers.  You can read their stories by clicking on the links below.

Albert and Thelma Brown Homestead Yuma/Yuma County 1911 Albert Brown came to Colorado from Woodston Kansas with his three brothers in 1907. In 1911 he filed on a 320 acre homestead 8 miles southeast of Yuma.  Shortly after he received his patent his future wife Thelma arrived from Haddam, Kansas in 1918. (read more...)
Box T Ranch Arapahoe/Cheyenne County 1908 Clifford and Elsie Williams came to Cheyenne County, Colorado, in 1908 from the Burlington, Kansas area.  Together, they homesteaded some 324 acres.  Clifford and Elsie lost their first son, born in 1912, but had six more children from 1915-1923. (read more...)
Elliott Farms Monte Vista/Rio Grande County 1908 William Sanderson and family moved from Hamilton Missouri to Monte Vista in Rio Grande County in 1907, a time when land developers and the railroad were encouraging migration to the San Luis valley.  The Sandersons acquired 160 acres in 1908. (read more...)
Fast Heritage Farm Joes/Yuma County 1911 In 1911, Jacob Fast bought 400 acres of Yuma County land near Joes for $1,250.  When Jacob died of a heart attack, Elizabeth Fast purchased the estate for $2,000.  Son George bought the land and began to work it in May of 1945.  He raised dry land corn, wheat and feed. (read more...)
Irwin Farm Lamar/Prowers County 1897 Jesse and Eliza Wright came from Winterset, Iowa in 1886 and settled near Lamar in Prowers County.  The current farm was purchased in 1897 and was 360 acres.  It was deeded to their daughter Nellie and husband Smiley Irwin a year later, who in turn deeded the acreage north of the Amity Canal to son and wife George and Katherine in 1945 while the land south of the canal was later sold. (read more...)
J.A. Lindahl & Co Akron/Washington County 1906 Charles, Anna and Caroline Lindahl immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1882, and by 1884 were homesteading a piece of land in Washington County near Akron.  The property was later passed down to Charles, son John and then to his son Carl who currently owns and works the land.  Today 300 acres are pasture land, running a 30 cow/calf operation and 160 acres are dry land farm raising wheat and hay. (read more...)
Kidd Ranch Sugar City/Crowley County 1911 Henry Brand, his wife Lottie and two of their children Minnie and George came from Nebraska and settled north of Sugar City in Crowley County in 1911.  Here claims were filed on four 320 acre homesteads which were proved up and patents received in 1912.  Minnie married Ralph Cline, who had homesteaded 320 acres close by, in 1919. (read more...)
Leroux Ranch Radium/Grand County 1905 Owen F. Leroux was originally a cowboy and miner who grazed cattle in southern and central Colorado in the mid 1800’s.  His future father-in-law John Winslow, one of the first settlers in the Radium Sheephorn Valley, suggested Owen should settle down and homestead.  Owen reportedly responded that there would be plenty of public ground available for grazing in the west so there is no need to homestead.  Owen later married Winslow’s daughter, Ida, and decided to settle down in 1905. (read more...)
Link Farm Genoa/Lincoln County 1910 Frank T. Link, Sr. was the son of German immigrants Peter and Anna Link who settled in Lincoln County near Genoa.  Here Frank acquired the original 160 acres through the Homestead Act in 1910.  Additional acreage, adjoining the original homestead, was acquired, totaling 960 acres. (read more...)
McLain Ranch Parlin/Gunnison County 1908 John Jay McLain was a teamster in the late 1800’s when he and his wife Olive Colter moved to Cripple Creek.  While he was there he mined and saved money towards his dream of ranching.  Life was tough in Cripple Creek so they moved to Ohio City in the early 1900’s.  John was superintendent of the Raymond mine and in his free time he panned gold out of the creek.  This paid off as in 1908 he was able to finally put a down payment on his dream ranch near Parlin in Gunnison County. (read more...)
Dennis L. Munson Sedgwick/Sedgwick County 1907 In 1907, Swain A. Munson received through the Homestead Act the title to 160 acres in Sedgwick County.  Here, he and wife Elizabeth raised cattle and Belgian horses.  Within a few years they built a house, barn, granary, chicken house and set up a windmill. (learn more...)
Shapley Ranch Stoneham/Weld County 1910 Edmond Shapley bought the original 160 acres in Weld County as a relinquishment in 1910.  He homesteaded by farming, raising cattle, milking cows and raising chickens.  Edmond died in 1930 after which wife Alma ran the ranch with help from their eldest son Lyle who eventually took the ranch over. (read more...)
Skold Farm Haxtum/Sedgwick County 1911 Joseph Nathaniel Skold acquired his 160 Sedgwick County acres from the US Government through a patent given on March 20, 1911.  Family tradition has it, though, that Joseph and wife Esther lived on this property since their marriage in 1909.  Their son, Lloyd, was born on May 15, 1911, and his son, Wayne, was born in Ovid in 1945, but has lived on the land all of his life. (read more...)
Spomer Farm Milliken/Weld County 1911 Johann and Susanna Spomer came to America in 1892 with three young children; Mollie, George and Elizabeth.  Their youngest child, John, was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1895.  By 1900 the family moved to the Globeville area of Denver and in 1911 purchased a farm near Milliken.  Johann died in 1929 and Susanna followed in 1933.  After that son John and wife Ella farmed until John was killed in a traffic accident in 1941. (read more...)
Thoma Farm Woodrow/Washington County 1909 Addison Thoma was raised in Ohio but at age 43 moved his wife Catherine and two daughters, Bertha and Merle, to Washington County.  The family settled on a land homestead which was entered at the Sterling Land office in October, 1909.  A few years later son Olen Dave Thoma was born in 1914.  Addison died in the late1950’s but Olen remained on and worked the land with his wife Alice. (read more...)
Valentine Ranch LLC Aguilar/Las Animas County 1907 Giovanni Leopoldo Valentini was born in Rollo Austria in 1869.  He came to Colorado in 1887 and worked at the Engleville Mine.  He decided to change his name to John Lee Valentine.  After he convinced Rachale Conter to move from Austria to be his wife in 1893, the couple had six children.  John had many talents and interests including being a baker and saloon keeper, but in 1907 he bought a ranch in Las Animas County near Gulnare where he would spend the rest of his life. (read more...)
Walker Family Ranch Westcliffe/Custer County 1911 On July 31, 1911, George F. Walker purchased 240 acres in Custer County near Westcliffe, and George, wife Zaluma and daughter Hazel began the ranching activities typical of the times.  Additionally, George also owned a barber shop in Westcliffe, six miles away.  Hazel married Willard Walker in 1920 and in 1939 George conveyed the 240 acre ranch to Willard and Hazel. (read more...)
Whomble-Welton Farm & Ranch Wray/Yuma County 1910 In 1909, Charles (Dade) and Pearl Whomble homesteaded 320 acres 17 miles south of Wray, in Yuma County.  In 1917 the new cement house went up – a big two-story with gabled roof.  They also added a brooding house, chicken house, hog shed, water house, garage, flower garden and lily pond!  In that part of the country, the Whomble farm was considered a "show-place."  Dade and Pearl raised 6 children on the farm.  The youngest of the kids, Helen Virginia (Peggy), married Troil Welton and moved to the farm in 1937. (read more...)