Ashbaugh Farm members receive their Centennial Farm award.

Centennial Farms & Ranches

Ashbaugh Farm

Weld County

In 1912 Harry and Clara Ashbaugh purchased land south of Buckingham, Colorado, as a homestead relinquishment.  Harry spent the spring of 1913 moving household goods, stock, and implements from Nebraska to the land in northeast Weld County.  Clara and their two sons had joined him in 1913 and lived in the barn for 6 months.

Members of Ashbaugh Farm.

Members of Ashbaugh Farm.

History Colorado.

In October Harry and friend Jim Young built a two-room dugout house and fruit cellar.  The Ashbaugh family lived there until 1919 when they purchased from Sears and Roebuck a prefabricated house that still stands today along with the barn.  The family originally bought 480 acres and then purchased an additional 160 acres from Harry’s sister, Ethel.  Harry and his sons grew wheat, corn, oats, barley, and potatoes for the family as well as cows, pigs, and chickens for eating.  Eventually the family grew to include seven children, of whom Kenneth, Keith, and Nola survive.  Today, Keith and his wife Shirley own the land, but live primarily in Denver, while the great granddaughter of Harry and Clara Ashbaugh and her family live on part of the land in Weld County where the farm produces wheat and millet.