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Flanders' farm earns sesquicentennial designation
by Matt Brennan

Parker Flanders received some farmland in 1853 for performing duties as an "Indian Scout" for the United States military, and as they say, the rest is history.

The land he received on Swan Road in unincorporated Kane County near Kaneville, is now being farmed by its fifth generation of Flanders. The family recently received a Sesquicentennial Farm award by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

There are about 350 Sesquicentennial farms in Illinois, which are farms that have been in the same family for 150 years or more, according to Delayne Reeves, marketing representative and coordinator of the Sesquicentennial Farm program with the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Only two of the 350 Illinois farms are in Kane County, Reeves said.

"The program honors the dedication of these farms," she said. "They show real pride in the land. It's amazing to see."

Today, the Flanders' 400-acre farm raises about 1,400 hogs a year, according to Tom Flanders, who currently works the farm. The hogs are driven to Minnesota, where the nearest market is located.

In addition to raising hogs, the Flanders also grow corn on the farm. Tom took over for his father Russell, who is now 84 and farmed the land from 1942 to 1980, he said.

The history of the farm started long before the current generations of Flanders, however. Parker Flanders was the original owner of the land.

"There was an influx around the rivers in the 1830s," Tom said. "A lot of this land didn't get settled until later."

After Parker came Thomas Flanders. Then, Russell's father, Elmer, took over the land until he handed it down to Russell. Russell recalled much of the farm's history. Before he began farming, they would take pails of dairy milk to a creamery in Elburn, where it would be separated to make things like butter, Russell said.

Farming technology took a drastic turn during Russell's time farming, he said.

"I planted corn with a team of horses and a two-row planter," Russell said. "Now we use a 16-row planter. We used to farm all with horses."

Russell said they produced about 40 to 50 bushels per acre of corn in the early days. Now, they produce about 200 bushels per acre with the current machinery, he said.

The farm raised chicken, sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle and hogs in Russell's early days, Tom said. In addition, they grew corn, oats, wheat, hay and barley.

When Russell took over the farming duties, they would take the cattle to the Chicago stockyards, he said. But the stockyards closed down, leaving no local market, he explained. This change forced them to eliminate cattle from the family farm.

"At that time, we did everything on the farm," Russell's wife Joan said. "But now it's gotten to be so specialized. Things have changed."

Russell said they would take the chickens to a hatchery in Elburn, where they would lay their eggs.

It is more difficult for a farm to support a family now than it was during Russell's farming era, Tom said. This is especially true because farms are not allowed such a wide array of items to produce, Tom said.

"Everybody seems to get off-farm jobs now," Tom said. "It didn't used to be that way. We were always too busy."

Russell reduced his farming duties around 1980 and began running Kaneville Seed in Kaneville. He ran that until last year, when he closed the store in order to slow down working a little bit, he said.

Tom has been farming the 400 acres since his father gave it up, and that is what he enjoys doing, he said. He intends on keeping the farm in the family.

"This is my life's work, and I intend on doing it," he said.

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