For over 25 years, History Colorado and the Colorado Department of Agriculture have recognized the important role that agriculture has played in our state’s history and economic development through the Centennial Farms program at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo.
Search for centennial farms and ranches designated since 2011 by entering a town or county.
Henry Gates of Meekton, Colorado applied for a homestead entry on the southwest quarter of section 21: township 2-south, range 51-west on May 8, 1914. He lived in a dugout until he could make improvements and he received the deed to the land on June 6, 1919.
In February 1911 Albert Anderson was one of the last open range cowboys when he bought 640 acres of Sedgwick County land that the previous owner had purchased from the Union Pacific Railroad. Here he and wife Ruth began to farm and ranch before selling the land to Albert’s brother Benjamin in 1919, only to buy it back in 1926.
George Sr. and Anna Eurich were born in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States in the early 1900s. George lived briefly in Pennsylvania before moving to Pueblo where he worked in the steel mills.
In 1886 George and Ann Poe and their four children homesteaded on the Frenchman Creek 6 miles east of Holyoke, Phillips County. 1894 was very dry, and the crops wouldn’t grow so they turned the cattle loose, pulled up stakes, and drifted with the cattle into the sand hills 4 miles southeast of the original place. There they built a sod house and a barn and purchased a quarter section of land for $10. After the passing of George, the land went to sons Herman and Winnie.
Comprising 320 acres in Kit Carson County near Flagler, the original Gering Farm was homesteaded by Edward Gering and patented on July 22, 1913. Edward and wife Edith raised four children on the farm and expanded their acreage through the years.
In 1900 John Harris purchased 160 acres near Collbran in Mesa County from the original homesteader who first worked the land in 1892. Harris produced alfalfa, corn, wheat, and pinto beans and raised livestock including milk cows, pigs, horses, sheep, chickens, turkeys, honey bees, and a few beef cattle.
Jacob Hasart Sr., a German-Russian from Lichtenthal, initially immigrated to Idalia with his family in 1889. After moving around for a number of years Jacob purchased the original section of Hasart farm in 1915.