At 150, Wagner farm one of the oldest in Sharon Township

Bradley Wagner, Brian Wagner, pictured, and their siblings Robert Wagner and Carole Osborne own and operate the sesquicentennial Wagner farm, which dates back to 1871. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

Until this past year, the Wagner family had little idea how old and how significant their 150 year-old farm was to the history of Le Sueur County.

The 200-acre parcel, 3 miles south of Rice Lake and 4 miles northwest of Le Center may appear unassuming at first — featuring a simple setup of a farmhouse, barn, quonset shed, and grain bins — but this small farm was one of the first settled in Sharon Township. Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota,” written in 1882 by Edward Druffield Neil, the Wagners’ ancestor Christian Schwarz is the first mentioned in the history of Sharon Township.

“Among the first to settle and make this their permanent home was Christian Shwar[z],” wrote Neil. “who with his family took a quarter section of section 23 in 1854, building one of the first houses of that locality.”

While the Wagner family knew the farm had been in the family since the 1800s, it wasn’t until they researched the history of the farm that they discovered the land was settled four years before the Minnesota territory was granted statehood. “It was crazy,” said Bradley Wagner. “Just when the research started leading back and back and back and then the one website for the county popped up and I started reading through it. When Christian’s name popped up actually being the first title, I was like ‘wow.’”

Bradley Wagner is the youngest of four siblings in the Wagner Family Trust which now owns the farm. Robert Wagner, Carol Osborne and Brian Wagner all manage the farm as well and were surprised to hear of the farm’s age.

Brian Wagner and Bradley Wagner stand in front of the Wagner farmhouse. The land was first settled in 1854 by their ancestor Christian Schwarz, one of the first residents of Sharon Township. (Carson Hughes/southernminn. com) The Wagner Farm in the 1960s had several barns dedicated to dairy, hogs and chickens and grew wheat and oats. (Photo courtesy of the Wagner family)

This year is the family’s first without their father, Harold Wagner. The farm owner of 51 years died last year at 82. Before his death, Bradley said that Harold wanted his children to learn more about the family’s history

“This is the first full year without Dad,” said Bradley Wagner. “He was the one, when the kids took over, he said ‘you guys got to research this thing.’ We never got around to it, but we knew this farm was in the family for a long, long time, so go find out how long.”

That research led to the Wagner Farm being recognized as a 2021 Century Farm and a Sesquicentennial Farm by the Minnesota Farm Bureau. Though Neil’s history suggests the land was first settled in 1854, the family’s first official land deed dates back to 1871. The land’s original owner, Christian Schwarz received a U.S. Government land grant signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. He applied for the land grant around 1869-70, but lacking planes and automobiles to send the message efficiently, Schwarz waited around a year to receive the deed.

According to Neil’s history, Schwarz was born in 1828 in Germany (though Bradley believes he was from Switzerland) and immigrated to the United States in 1854. He settled the then 160-acre parcel with his wife Mary Harrisberger, a Swiss immigrant, and the two had six children: William, Henry, Pauline, Philip and Christian.

The farm was under the Schwarz family’s ownership for 82 years, until the Wagners married into the family and took over the land in 1953. According to the Wagner family tree, the four siblings’ great-grandfather Frederick Wagner married Schwarz’s granddaughter and the daughter of Christian Schwarz II, Pauline Schwarz. Their son George Wagner was the first in the Wagner line to own the farm and he managed the property for 16 years.

Harold Wagner received the farm from his father George and worked the land from 1963 until he retired from farm labor in the 2000s. His children helped out with the farm over the past 20 years and Harold bequeathed the farm to them before his death.

There’s much the Wagner family doesn’t know about the very early years of the farm, but by the mid-20th century the Wagner family was reliant on dairy, swine and chickens as well as grains like wheat and oats.

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The Wagner siblings Brian, Carol, Bradley and Robert currently operate the farm through a family trust. (Photo courtesy of Bradley Wagner)

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By the 1970s and 1980s, Harold Wagner cleared the land of excess livestock barns as the farm transitioned to relying on corn and soybeans. (Photo courtesy of the Wagner family)

In the 1960s, the farm was a more complex organization with around 11 buildings on the property. Livestock, including the 50 heads of dairy cattle, hogs, chickens needed plenty of space to operate. As the farm transitioned out of livestock in the 70s and 80s, the farm simplified its operations to a few barns and grain bins.

Bradley Wagner said the farm bowed out of raising cattle when his father took the dairy buyout, a government program that encouraged farmers to cull their herds in an effort to reduce the nation’s milk surplus. Soon after Harold stopped raising cows, he abandoned raising hogs and chickens too.

“It’s kind of nice that it’s gone away because that was a lot of work,” said Brian Wagner.

While Robert, Carol and Brian worked with the livestock, Bradley Wagner was a bit relieved that the farm focused on crops by the time he reached working age. He has many fond memories of living on the farm when he was younger. One of his favorite activities in the winter was sledding off the top of the granary after the snow fell. Heaps of snow would blow onto the farm from the west, allowing a young Bradley to walk up the side of the granary on the ground cables. The kids also dug tunnels in the snow piles.

WAGNER FARM TIMELINE

1854 - A quarter of Farm Section 23 in Sharon Township, Le Sueur County is settled by Christian Schwarz and his wife Mary Harrisberger. 1871 - The Schwarz family receives a land grant from the U.S. government signed by President Ulysses S. Grant 1953 - The farm is passed down to George Wagner, the great-grandson of Christian Schwarz.

1969 - Harold Wagner inherits the farm from his father George. 1971 - The farm officially turns 100. 2020 - Harold Wagner passes the farm onto his children Robert Wagner, Carol Osborne, Brian Wagner and Bradley Wagner.

2021 - The Wagner Farm celebrates its 150th anniversary and is named a Century Farm and Sesquicentennial Farm.

up. You can bet that mother loved that.”

To protect the farm from the elements, Harold planted and grew three rows of trees that still stand today. He also weaned the farm of wheat and oats when corn and soybeans took off as the new cash crop.

Christian Schwarz and Mary Harrisberger were the first generation in the Wagner family to settle in Sharon Township. (Photo courtesy fo the Wagner family)

the Wagner Farm.

Now, the farm is mainly operated by the eldest son Robert with the other siblings pitching in. Bradley wasn’t certain how long this new status quo would last.

“We have three boys, I have one and [Brian] has two, but I don’t know if any of them are interested,” said Bradley Wagner. “We’ll see, you just never know.”

While no one knows what the future may bring, Bradley was reassured that their father still watches over them. To the east on top of the power lines Harold built, a bald eagle routinely comes to perch and look out over the farm, a visible sign, Bradley believes, that their father is still with them in spirit.