Erie County Farmers' Picnic

Here is a schedule of events at the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic held at Cedar Point on Saturday, July 23, 1892.

An account of the picnic in the July 25, 1892 Sandusky Register reported that the event was a “success in every way,” except for attendance.  Many farmers could not attend because of the late harvest, which kept many farmers at home working in the fields.  The article stated, “The programme heretofore published was fully carried out and nothing was left undone by the Cedar Point management that would add to the pleasures and comfort of those who were there to enjoy the day.” 

Musical entertainment was provided by the Great Western Band (above) and vocalist Ida Reynolds.

 

Charles Steen, pictured above with his wife Sarah, was the Vice-President of the Erie County Agricultural Society in 1892. Mr. Steen introduced the speakers of the day: I.F. Mack, Department Commander of the Ohio G.A.R. and General William H. Gibson, from Tiffin, Ohio.

Mr. Mack gave an address which focused on pensions for the Union Veterans of the Civil War. He indicated that the pensions for former U.S. soldiers compared favorably with the pensions given to the veteran soldiers of other countries.

When Vice President C. F. Steen introduced General William H. Gibson, of Tiffin, the crowd gave an enthusiastic ovation. General Gibson, considered an outstanding orator, was known as the “Grand Old Man of Ohio.” The Register carried a large portion of General Gibson’s speech, in which he praised the farmers of the United States. He spoke of the American wheat, corn, and cotton crops, and how wheat from the U.S. was sent to famine victims in Russia. He continued “This is a great farm and we don’t want any drones on it. I have worked ever since I was born and this is the best world I ever struck.” He encouraged the young men in the crowd to “get forty acres of land in any part of the state of Ohio” and “hang on to it.”  General Gibson concluded with patriotic remarks, stating that America was the most popular nation in Christendom, with bounteous wealth and infinite resources. 

To read the full article about the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic in 1892, visit the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library, which houses decades of historical local newspapers on microfilm, or find the article on Newspaper Archive, a subscription service available free to Sandusky Library cardholders via our local history resource page.

 Pictured below is a picnic at Cedar Point in 1906, several years after the Erie County Farmers’ Picnic.

 

Erie County Farmers’ Institute in 1912

Farmers’ Institutes were modeled after the popular Teachers’ Institutes in the mid-1800s for the purpose of disseminating information to farmers about the latest developments in farm management. Dr. Norton S. Townshend former secretary of the Ohio Board of Agriculture, promoted Farmers’ Institutes in Ohio. In an address at the annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture in 1874, Dr. Townshend said, "What we want is to abandon the old idea that farming has no higher aim than getting a living, and instead of it to adopt the better one that the chief end of farming is the culture and improvement of the farmer and his family; and while it does this, it should, as a secondary result, give support and pay expenses. Farming needs a new departure, or to take a new start, and with a higher aim and purpose, so that it may secure to the farmer the same improvement in intellectual and social position that men expect to secure through the professions of law or medicine. These professions educate men by their daily work, and so will farming when taken hold of in earnest and in the right way."  The Farmers’ Institutes were held in most Ohio counties during the winter months, for two or three days. Lectures were presented by state agricultural leaders, followed by open discussions among the local farmers. On January 1 and 2, 1912, the Erie County Farmer’s Institute was held at the Perkins Methodist Church.

 Ross D.L. Ransom was the president of the Institute, with Charles F. Steen as vice president, Harry E. Storrs as treasurer, and L.J. Parker serving as secretary.

 Several lectures were given, covering topics such as soil needs, the consumers’ dollar, use and value of lime, corn growing, and pruning of nursery stock. Interspersed among the lectures and discussions were musical numbers by area residents. The Ladies’ Aid Society of the Perkins Methodist Church provided dinner in the church basement for twenty five cents. Clifford King donated four programs from Erie County Farmers’ Institutes, from 1911 to 1914. 

Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center if you would like to view this historical items, which are housed in archival box E-6, folder 5. A chapter about Ohio’s Farmers’ Institutes is found in the Farmer's Centennial History of Ohio, online at the InternetArchive. Agriculture continues to be an important component of Ohio’s economy, with one in seven Ohioans employed in agriculture or an agricultural related business.