Magnuson Farm
Weld County
Fred Magnuson purchased 98 acres in Weld County in 1910 from John and Christina Smillie who had homesteaded under the Timber Culture Act. Fred and his wife Josephine were already farming and residing on another nearby farm. They paid $15,000 for their new place, though they never actually lived on it.
Magnuson Farm members at the Colorado State Fair.
By 1917 their second son Carl married Esther Eskilson, and the young couple moved onto the farm where they built a house by 1919. The house, barn, garage, tank house, and chicken coop were all constructed of brick made in the kiln owned by Carl’s father. Brick from Denver was used on the final layer.
Carl purchased the farm from his father in 1934, and shortly after, he purchased the 135 acre farm across the road. At this time the principal crops raised were small grains, potatoes, and sugar beets. Carl served as a county commissioner, State Senator, and Representative starting in the 1950s. Upon his death in 1983, the farm passed to son Gordon, who had been working on the farm since graduating from then Colorado A&M in 1942. He and his wife Margaret lived on the Magnuson Farm their entire married life.
Magnuson Farm members.
Magnuson Farm.
In 1974, Gordon’s son Ted joined the family farming business, and he continued to look over operations, until his death in 2008 after which his wife Susie and sons Tim and Jim took over. Over the years, corn and alfalfa were raised, and a cattle operation took on additional effort. Today Susie, Tim, and Jim operate the farm that includes 233 acres of corn and alfalfa. The wonderful brick buildings, which include the house, well and tank house, barn and garage are still in place and look as good as when they were first built in 1919.