Chellberg Farm
Chellberg Farm is significant as it represents the ethnic heritage of a nearly forgotten Swedish-American settlement.
The farm includes a family home, water house with windmill, chicken coop/bunkhouse, and the original barn.
A local story has it that an earlier Swedish immigrant, Jonas Asp, aided Joel Wicker in recruiting Swedes, including the Kjellberg family to work his lands.
[3] The immigrants provided the necessary labor force for developing farmland, railroads, and industry in the area.
Overtime, a craftsman fireplace was added in the dining room and later a glass-enclosed front porch.
[5] The 1880 census showed the Chellbergs having 'two milk cows, six other cattle, two sheep and five horses.'
The wood consists of a mix of oak, elm, ash, maple and basswood.
[5] Originally built on stone piers, Carl Chellberg added a concrete floor in 1938.
For this structure, the boards were split in half and cut to the necessary length and laid horizontally.
Double vertical board doors, standing seam metal gable roof cover the structure.
[5] Historic American Buildings Survey Gallery This one-story, single-room structure was built ca 1879.
They first lived on Mineral Springs road, south of the tracks from the Swedish Lutheran Church.
[4] Arrival in Northwest IndianaIn October 1869 the family took legal title to the Chellberg Farm property.
John Oherg and Anders Kjellberg represented the family in the purchase of 80 acres (32 ha) from J. H. Wicker.
No crops had been produced in their first year, but they had several animals, two milk cows, two other cattle and two swine.
Their only farm production and possibly only source of income was 100 pounds of butter that had been produced.
The Chellbergs had an orchard which may have produced apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, and raspberries.
[4][9] On April 4, 1872 Anders Kjellberg purchased an additional 40 acres (16 ha), the northern half of the property, from Joel H. Wicker.
By 1879 the farm included thirty poultry, eight cows, two sheep, eleven swine, and five horses.
That year, the farm produced 100 bushels of Indian corn, from the 40 acres (16 ha) cultivated.
The use of brick for the new house was more likely to be an attempt to guarantee that another fire would not threaten the family, than a display of a new level of wealth Second Generation at the Chellberg Farm, 1893–1908Anders Kjellberg was 63 when he died on April 16, 1893.
Chellberg became the owner of the farm when he bought his mother's and sister's inherited interest.
His scientific approach was furthered, beginning in 1896 when he subscribed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmer's Bulletins.
Alfred was a carpenter and brick worker by trade so; he may have provided cash income by working off of the farm.
It may have been when the South Shore closed its stop near farm or slowly over time as it became more difficult to get the milk to the train each day.
His son Carl Chellberg took on the primary management of the farm, but everyone was actively involved in the decisions.
Eventually (sometime in the mid to late 1950s) Carl Chellberg took a job a machine shop in Chesterton and sold the sheep.
During 1943, 1944, and 1945, Henry and Arthur Studebaker grew vegetables at the farm for sale to local residents.
They had a 2-acre (0.81 ha) garden in the eastern portion of the field south of the orchard and north of the current visitor center parking lot.
They grew asparagus, lima beans, yellow and green snap beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery (white), kale, leaf lettuce, endive, cantaloupe, watermelons, okra, green onions, leeks, parsnips, peas, green and red peppers, red, white, and sweet potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, red rhubarb chard and white Swiss chard, Jerusalem and butternut squash, red and yellow tomatoes, turnips, rutabagas, kohl robi, cicely, sweet corn (yellow bantam and country gentleman), horseradish, dill, sage, chives, and parsley.
