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Agriculture in Morgan County
Agriculture has always figured prominently in the settlement of an area.
It was usually the primary occupation of the early settlers and the mainstay
of the pioneer economy. Farming during this early period was at a
subsistence level, with corn the basis of the agricultural economy. It
provided food for the settler as well as his livestock and was used as a
means of exchange.
Crop diversification appeared as an area
became more widely settled and more land came under cultivation. By the
1850s, advances in transportation and technology connected farmers with
distant markets and supported greater productivity. Farmers could now afford
to build larger, more elaborate houses and outbuildings. Rural communities
and their small businesses prospered, as did the railroads. As agriculture
became more sophisticated, it evolved from being a way of life to a
business. More sophisticated farm machinery decreased the amount of labor
needed, increased the size of farms, and supported technological advances in
farm buildings.
Agriculture is a significant part of
Indiana's heritage. Since pioneer days, the raising of crops and livestock
has played an important role in the state's economic, social and educational
systems. The Land Ordinance Act of 1785 established guidelines for the
disposal of land in the Northwest Territories based on the now familiar
rectangular survey system of 36 one-mile squares. The Ordinance also
provided for a more organized means of land transfers and decreased the
possibility of boundary disputes. Settlers could purchase parcels of land in
offices established throughout the state.
Indiana's earliest agricultural activity
was centered in southern Indiana, an area of the state settled by people
moving north out of the Upland South. Because of the area's uneven terrain,
poor soil and lack of access to transportation, early farms were usually
small, subsistence operations. The rich prairies of central and northern
Indiana, settled by people moving west out of New England and the Great
Lakes region, produced larger, successful farms. By the mid-nineteenth
century, the development of transportation routes, including waterways and
railroad lines, stimulated the first significant expansion in agriculture.
Agricultural expansion was further
encouraged by the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862 that provided for the
establishment of colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. Twelve years
later, in 1874, Purdue University was founded in West Lafayette. The
University offered courses in agriculture and provided extension services
for the state's farmers. Local organizations such as the Grange were formed
to promote social, cultural and educational programs in rural areas.
Indiana's "golden age" of agriculture
extended into the twentieth century. By 1900, agriculture so dominated the
state's economy that the top four industries in Indiana were agriculturally
related. However, with the rise of other industries, the evolution of an
urban society and changes in transportation, agriculture's dominance of the
Hoosier lifestyle has lessened. Despite this downturn in the agrarian
economy, agriculture remains an integral and vital part of Indiana's
traditions.
The development of
agriculture in Morgan County varied considerably between the level, fertile
land in the northern townships to the rugged, heavily wooded areas in the
south. Farming in the southern townships never grew much beyond the
subsistence level; consequently, the farmsteads were less developed than
those in the north. Representative of the county's early agricultural
activity, hewn log barns and outbuildings dating to as early as the 1840s are still
found in the southern part of the county.
Agricultural growth in northern Morgan
County was encouraged by rich farmland, especially along the White River
bottoms, access to rail lines and major roads and the area's proximity to
Indianapolis. As farmsteads were expanded, modern residences replaced early
homes, which were often relegated for use as outbuildings. Larger barns and
a greater array of ancillary buildings—hen houses, corn cribs, smoke houses,
and so on--completed the typical late-nineteenth century farmstead.
The twentieth century brought a significant
change to farming. Between 1900 and 1920, farming evolved from a relatively
self-sufficient way of life to a business. Improvements in transportation
and research by state farming land grant colleges, especially Purdue
University, led to advancements in machinery, buildings, and the breeding of
cattle, all of which contributed to the Golden Age of agriculture. Decline
followed World War I and continued throughout the Depression and up to World
War II. Since then, farming statewide has dwindled. More and more in recent
years, families are selling off multi-generational farms for residential
subdivisions and commercial development.
Morgan County boasts a variety of historic
barns and outbuildings that represent the development of the local
agricultural economy. |
