Oliver H. Kelley Farm, 15788 Kelley Farm Road, Elk River, Minnesota
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Oliver H. Kelley Farm | |
| Address: | 15788 Kelley Farm Road |
| City/locality- State/province |
Elk River, Minnesota |
| County- State/province: |
Sherburne County, Minnesota |
| State/province: | Minnesota |
| Country: | United States |
| Year Established: | 1850 |
| Founded by: | Oliver H. Kelley |
| Historic Function: | Farmstead |
| Current Function: | Historic site |
| National Register of Historic Places Information | |
| Reference URL: | [Reference] |
| Level of significance: | National |
| Primary Style: | Italianate |
The site includes an Italianate farmhouse and various farm outbuildings as well as fields where crops are grown and harvested as they were in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
Site History
Oliver H. Kelley staked a claim at the new town of Itasca on the Mississippi River near present-day Elk River. Kelley moved away from farming and Minnesota in the late 1860s, and in his later years he was known for founding the National Grange, a fraternal organization of farm families. Two of his daughters returned to the farm in 1876 and managed it during the summers until 1885. The Kelleys owned the farm until 1901.
Grange purchased the farm in 1935 and donated it to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1961. At this National Historic Landmark, visitors become involved in living history demonstrations of the work and play of daily life for Oliver H. Kelley's family and other farmers in mid-19th-century Minnesota.
Memories and stories
Oliver H. Kelley Farm Historic Site operated by the Minnesota Historical Society
