Local Century Farm has nearly two-century past

This past summer, crews from two local companies went to work on farm buildings on SR 18 between Tiffin and Bascom. Salome Ramirez Jr., owner of Handyman Plus, made repairs to the brick farm house and a large barn across the road. Jon Mullholand of Arrowhead Barn Recycling dismantled the barn's wooden silo and tore down a smaller frame structure that was leaning dangerously toward the highway. A reporter's interest in these projects mushroomed into an exploration of the farm's past occupants and history. Writing about them seemed to be a fitting preview to Tiffin's bicentennial celebration in 2022. Luella King, current owner of the farm, and her son Curtis King shared memories of the farm and what they know about its past. Her nephew, Duane King, also contributed information. Having bought adjacent property from the Dunn family, he now lives in the same neighborhood along SR 18. Gary Dundore of Tiffin is a descendant from the Creeger family. He and his wife, Jan, helped clarify dates and names from historical sources. They included: "The Centennial Biographical History of Seneca County," 1902, by Lewis Publishing Co. of Chicago; the 1886 edition of Warner, Beers and Co.'s "History of Seneca County, Ohio;" and "Bascom Then and Now," a bicentennial publication covering 1776-1976. Early days on the farm Native Americans still lived in Ohio when Hopewell Township was established in 1824. Records indicate Henry Creeger founded his farm in 1827, which makes it nearly 190 years old. "The Creegers came to Tiffin from Maryland in 1826. They settled on this property in the spring of 1827," Curtis said. "It's one of the oldest established farms in Seneca County, if not the oldest." The 1902 source says Henry Washington Creeger was 2 years old when he came to Ohio with his parents, Henry and Catharine. That book also says the younger Henry was one of 10 children. The family lived in a wigwam near Fulton (Wolf) Creek until a frame home was built. Henry W. and the oldest brother, John Henry, helped their father clear a road from the farm to Tiffin. Indians often would visit the farm. Around 1840, the Mad River Railroad reached Tiffin. After his marriage, Henry W. bought 80 acres adjacent to the Creeger homestead. The 1886 history says he built the "fine brick house" where Luella now lives. Curtis surmises his parents' house must have been built before that book was published. Duane said the house was enlarged with a two-story addition as lodging for men who worked in the Creegers' quarry. Later, Henry bought his father's homestead and lived there until his death in 1896. From the late 1890s until about 1930, an interurban line between Fostoria and Tiffin ran past the house. Dundore described the double-decker trolley cars. Duane King said the street cars carried freight in addition to passengers. "They hauled milk and everything on that," Duane said. The 1886 history says Henry W.'s first wife, Ruth Culbertson, bore four children before she died. Henry fathered eight more children with his second wife, Christina Brendle. One of those children was Ida Creeger, who married Oliver E. King Sr., and his son, Oliver Junior King, married Luella Stine in 1945. Mark King, brother of Oliver Junior, took charge of another section of the Creeger farm and built a house where Bob Evans Family Restaurant is now. That farm also had a maple sugar camp. The house was moved to Township Road 18 and remains there today. The rest of the property now is commercial. The barn and silo Growing up, Curtis King and his two sisters spent many hours in the big white barn. A step inside provides a glimpse of a once-bustling, self-sufficient farm. An earthen bank leads to large sliding doors on the main floor. The name "HW Creeger" is painted on a beam in the grainery. The lower level has livestock stalls. "It was a milking parlor. We milked," Curtis said. "Dad would talk about taking (milk on) the streetcar into town," Curtis said. Luella said Oliver transported milk from the farm to a dairy in Tiffin. Before tractors were available, Luella said, they had horses to work the fields. The barn also housed swine until they became infected with hog cholera. The Kings brought in sheep to replace the pigs. Curtis pointed out a hoist his dad used to move hay into the hay mow. "We used to swing on that, but we had to keep it pretty close to the hay … so when you fell, you wouldn't kill yourself," Curtis said. "Then, we would build forts in it." Curtis remembered using fence posts as framing to support tunnels in the hay. His job was to get the hay into the barn while his dad and sister were in the field cutting it. By the time Oliver Junior returned to the barn, the tunnels were concealed. Hay could be dropped through a trap door to the animals below. Another feature of the barn is a track system to collect manure in a large bin and move it outside. Now, the barn is mostly empty. "Contemporary farm machinery is just too big to put in that barn anymore," Curtis said. Records do not list the year the barn was built, but Curtis said its massive beams were hand-hewn from native timber. Although oak is resistant to termites, the insects ravaged some of the crossbeams made of beech. Also, the southeast corner has settled. Ramirez said he would shore up the sagging interior floor beams to prevent more damage and to stabilize the upper part of the structure. Ramirez sub-contracted with Mullholand to take down the wooden silo that once held feed for the animals. Curtis said it had not been used for about 20 years, and he had cut its guy-wires while cutting grass with his lawn tractor. Without those supporting cables, high winds caused it to lean against the barn. Measuring 10 feet in diameter, the silo was constructed of 59 boards that rose 25 feet from the concrete foundation. The tongue-in-groove slats were encircled by nine metal rings. The conical metal top was crowned with a lightning rod. A metal grain chute and a series of interior wooden panels completed the structure. Mullholand said he removed the cap Aug. 9 and deconstructed the shaft the next day. "This was all cedar. That's why it lasted so long," Mullholand said. "It was just amazing how quick. It came down so good. We took about two-thirds of it off. The rest just laid right down." Although a few of the boards were damaged, Mullholand said the silo was in good condition for its age. He numbered each board in order and loaded them, with all the metal pieces and the numbered wooden panels, onto a trailer to be taken from the site. The new owners planned to transport the silo to Waco, Texas, cut off the damaged edges and restore it. The quarry In the mid-1800s, the Creeger family cut and sold limestone from a quarry on their property, although sources do not give the years it operated or the name of the business. The Kings have an undated vintage photograph from the quarry's active years. "They were working the quarry with horses, and you can see the house in the background. The barn wasn't there," Dundore said. Duane King remembers other quarries in the area. One was at the site of Tiffin Mall, and a larger one closer to Bascom now is a private lake. At one time, the France Stone Co. worked that quarry until a natural spring flooded the work area. For a time, they pumped water out of the hole, but eventually, the pump could not keep up. "Dad said, and I don't know if it's true … they just left equipment in there and walked away from it," Curtis said. The Kings' quarry also is filled with spring water. Curtis said a valve to pump water out into the creek still can be seen on one corner of the quarry. The water was always 54 degrees, so it was too cold for swimming and too warm to freeze over for ice skating. "We weren't allowed near that when we were kids," he added. Foundations for the house and the barn were made from limestone taken from the quarry. More of the stone was used to build a new foundation for the corncrib/shed building that originally stood near the house. Curtis thought the shed probably was moved about the time the big barn was constructed. The 'shed' The frame structure Curtis called "the shed" recently was removed by Mullholand and his crew from Arrowhead Barn Recycling. Mullholland said metal support rods had been installed to reinforce the original beams and siding, but the structure was leaning precariously toward the highway. "It was an 18 by 30 (foot) building," Luella said. While deciding the fate of the structure, Mullholand uncovered the foundation and discovered the siding had pulled away from the stone slabs on the south side. Curtis said the two-story building had a trap door and a pulley system to move objects to the upper storage space. "It had termites in the center of the beams. What was holding that building up was the siding and the two doors at the end," Curtis said. The Kings and Mullholand agreed the shed had deteriorated beyond repair and needed to come down. The crew had to be careful to keep debris off the road and prevent injury to the workers. Mullholand said this was one of more than 90 barns he has worked on over the years. He salvaged most of its oak planks and beams, as well as a collection of wooden boxes from the upper level. The Kings rescued an 1800s buggy and a vintage horse-drawn sleigh from the lower level. The cemetery Members of the Creeger family are buried in a small cemetery on the hill behind the barn. Dundore said he descended from Lorenzo Dow Creeger, a nephew to Henry Creeger. Lorenzo founded Creeger Implement Co., which operated in Tiffin from 1882 to 2011. Dundore said it was one of the earliest John Deere franchises in the country. Another Creeger, Martha Mathilda, married William Henry Gibson. An overgrown lane leads to the burial ground where many of the markers have weathered into unreadable condition. Into the future The Ohio Department of Agriculture already has recognized the King-Creeger Farm as a Century Farm. Although the property has changed in appearance, its acreage continues to produce crops under the care of younger farmers. Curtis said many of the trees on the west side of the highway have been lost to wind damage and cutting by the electric company. Traffic on SR 18 has increased with the expansion of Tiffin's commercial district, making it more difficult for vehicles to enter and depart from the farm. The house has undergone repairs and improvements over the years, with Ramirez doing the most recent work. "They took two chimneys off and thought they were done, but here there were two more in the back," Luella said. The family hopes these efforts will sustain the farm for whatever lies ahead.