Farm History

     The Hosmer Dairy Farm, located seven miles west of Marshfield, Missouri, started on what was considered by many to be the poorest farm in Webster County and became one of the largest and most profitable farms in the state of Missouri.  This was accomplished by the hard work and dedication of Edmund and Eliza Jane Hosmer, who started the dairy primarily for building up the soil.  It did that and more.  It  produced the sweet cream butter that was in great demand in the Ozarks.  It built the best barns in the county, bought the best machinery, and built the grandest home in the area.  The Hosmer Dairy Farm was the beginning of the dairy industry in southwest Missouri.

  Edmund Hosmer was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1828.  Edmund came to Marshfield in 1871.  That same year, he married Eliza Jane Goss, who was the proprietor of the first store in Marshfield along with her late husband, Allen Goss.  Mr. Hosmer opened a hardware store, and he and Mrs. Hosmer lived and worked on the Marshfield Square for many years.

   In 1889, when active business in town lost its attraction, the Hosmers moved to the impoverished farm of 360 acres that Mrs. Hosmer had owned with her late husband since the 1860’s and had rented out to tenants. This farm had been in cultivation for forty years and, for many of these years, it was a stagecoach stop and relay station to change horses.  Most of the crops grown were fed to the horses.  The manure, with all of the nutrients, was scattered along the road and not on the farm, leaving the farm’s soil depleted and infertile. Several neighbors and friends suggested that Mr. Hosmer would not be able to make a living on that farm.                                                                      

     Determined to be successful, Mr. Hosmer first tried raising mules, then beef, but found these were not profitable enough.  Growing up on his father’s farm in Massachusetts, young Edmund learned the value of barnyard manure for building up and maintaining the fertility of the soil.  Mr. Hosmer decided that dairy cows could provide the needed fertility and produce a product.  Dairying looked too good not to try.  At that time, there were no commercial dairies in southwest Missouri, but Mr. Hosmer had the intelligence to know that running a dairy should be like running any business, along with using improved methods in farming and using a good system of bookkeeping to determine accurately every loss and gain.

  The Hosmer Dairy was first established on a small scale with twelve native cows and enlarged as it became more and more apparent that southwest Missouri, rich in natural grasses and in innumerable streams of pure, sweet water, was a natural home for the dairy industry.  The milk was skimmed by hand and the cream churned into butter in a small, barrel churn.  The skim milk and buttermilk were saved and fed to hogs.  Sweet cream butter and hogs became profitable products for the farm.  The cows furnished the manure to spread on the fields and enrich the soil.  As this system began to show results and to increase their profits, the Hosmers increased the volume of their business.  More cows were added, more butter was made, more hogs were fed and more manure was spread on the fields.

     Edmund and Eliza Jane had one son, John Elston, born in 1873.  John attended high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his aunt lived, and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1892.  When John returned home, he became a partner with his father in the dairy business.  Edmund and John kept up with advances made in agriculture.  They read government bulletins and valued the advice given by reliable farm papers.  If new ideas were found to be profitable, they were adopted.. 

     In 1894 a creamery, made of native limestone quarried on the farm. The 18x36 feet structure was built over a fresh water spring on the farm.  The cool, spring water flowed through a cement trough under the concrete floor.  This was where the cream was cooled after being separated from the milk, until it was churned into butter.  Within a short time, another twelve feet were added to the building to serve as a mechanical room.  The creamery was of high grade, equipped with the  best butter-making machinery that could be purchased, including a gasoline engine and a dynamo.  A steam boiler was also added to run the cream separators and the butter churn.  The Hosmers operated a creamery before there were any creameries in Springfield, and they  had the first cream separator in the county.  The Hosmers also had the first manure spreader, side-delivery rake, hay loader, tedder, gasoline engine, and the first silo in the county. 

  By 1895, the Hosmers were cultivating 250 of their 360 acres.  Corn and wheat along with alfalfa, timothy, and clover were grown on the farm.  The Hosmers were also milking 35 of their 50 cows, which were mostly shorthorns with a record of 200 pounds of butter each per year.  Mr. Hosmer purchased a high quality Jersey bull to build a herd of grade Jersey-Shorthorns.  His goal was to work toward a pure-bred Jersey herd.

  By 1902, the Hosmers had over 100 head of high-bred milking cows of which 73 cows averaged over 340 pounds of butter each per year.  Hosmer butter developed a reputation for excellence and was in great demand.  Much of the credit was given to Mrs. Hosmer, who oversaw the butter-making process.  When the butter production could not be absorbed in Marshfield, Hosmer butter was shipped by railroad to Springfield and Joplin groceries and used in the finest hotel restaurants.  Grocery ads highlighted Hosmer butter which usually sold for a little more than butter from other farms.  Hosmer butter was famous all up and down the Frisco Railroad and was requested by particular patrons in the Railroad eating houses.  It was said that Hosmer butter won top prize at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. 

  Old, existing barns were used until the farm could provide new structures.  The new barns and outbuildings were built for the purpose of convenience, economy, and service.  The milking barn was built in the 1890s at a size of 60x114 feet.  The ground floor was built of native limestone quarried on the farm and has a concrete floor and enough stanchions to milk 100 cows.  The upper story was built of wood frame and used to store hay and grain.  The milking barn was sanitary with its painted white walls and ceiling.  The concrete floors had a built-in gutter which carried all waste water from the barn.  The barn was thoroughly broom-scrubbed every day, and the feeding troughs were washed after each feeding.  Every cow was carefully brushed each day, and the udders were washed before each milking.  The milking crew wore white duck suits and caps and were required to treat the cows gently.  They weren’t even allowed to speak harshly to the cows.  As soon as a cow was milked, the milk was tested to determine the butter fat produced by each cow.  The milk from each cow was weighed morning and night, and a careful record was kept.  The milk was then separated in the creamery, and the cream was left to cool in the fresh spring water before being churned into butter.  The skimmed milk was fed to the hogs.  This same spring supplied water, by underground pipe, to the milking barn and to a large concrete water trough near the barn.

  The Hosmer Dairy Farm was known all over the state of Missouri as one of the largest and most successful dairy farms.  By 1907, the Hosmers had 760 acres of farmland with 125 cows in their herd, of which 100 were constantly milked.  An average of 325 gallons of milk daily produced 100 pounds of butter daily.  At this time, the dairy farm employed eight full-time men and five to seven extra men during the busy season.  Five of the full-time men and their families lived in small houses built on the farm.  Besides being furnished a house and good wages, these men were also given a garden spot and milk.  If they stayed a year, they were also given a bonus.  With all the activity going on, many neighbors called the farm, “Hosmer Town.”

      In 1908, a silo was erected in front of the milking barn.  The silo was built with cement blocks that were made on a Milo machine.  It was built 17 feet in diameter, 40 feet tall, and had a capacity of 200 tons. This silo was the first one built in Webster County.  That same year, Mr. Hosmer purchased a corn binder from a local dealer to cut and bind his corn for ensilage to fill the silo.  The first time the binder was tried in the corn field it failed to work, so the dealer was asked to come to the farm.  The general agent for the binder company happened to be in the store at that time, so the agent brought him along confident that the agent could adjust the binder satisfactorily.  But when the agent was shown the field of corn, he stood gazing at it for awhile, then turned to Mr. Hosmer and said, “Great Scott, man, that machine was never built to cut such corn.”

  In 1910, another barn was built 36x80 feet to house horses, mules.  Before it could be completely finished, lightning struck the barn, and it was destroyed by fire.  It was immediately rebuilt.  Built of handmade concrete blocks, the lower level was used to stable the horses and mules, as well as dry stock.  The upper floor was wood frame and used to store hay.

  During their first twenty years on the farm, the Hosmers lived in a log house, built in 1838, to which they applied weather board siding and added a kitchen and dining room.  This home burned in 1910.  After construction of the necessary farm buildings, the success of the farm allowed the Hosmers to build a new residence.  In 1912, they built a modern, two-story home constructed of brick and trimmed with stone.  It was the first home in the area to have conveniences such as heat by a hot water furnace in the basement, a private waterworks system, and an acetylene lighting plant.  It was one of the finest country homes in southern Missouri.  The home burned in 1913 shortly after being built but was immediately rebuilt.  This was the third disastrous fire on the farm within three years.

  Edmund Hosmer died in 1910 at the age of 81.  The farm was then managed by his wife Eliza Jane and his son John, who continued to increase the size and fertility of the farm using the practices started by his father.  John Hosmer was as thorough a businessman as his father.  He kept accurate records and knew how well the farm and individual cows were doing. 

  The crops grown on the farm were fed to the cows.  Around 1913, wheat was yielding 25 to 30 bushels an acre.  The yield of corn averaged 60 bushels to the acre on fields that were formerly taxed to produce ten bushels of corn per acre.  In good years, large corn fields averaged 75-85 bushels per acre. 

  During the 1920s, tomato fields and tomato canneries popped up all around the Ozarks.  Tomatoes were also planted on the Hosmer farm, and a structure was built for canning the tomatoes.  The Hosmer farm also had an apple orchard and a twenty acre strawberry patch for several years.

     Following the success of Edmund and John Hosmer, many of the neighbors in Webster County began dairying at the urging of Edmund Hosmer.  Mr. Hosmer supplied many of them with the capital for their first venture.  By 1919, there were more than 10,000 dairy cows in Webster County, and three-fourths of them were Jersey.  Webster County was known as the “Dairy Center of the Ozarks.”  The Webster County Farm Bureau placed portraits of Edmund and Eliza Jane Hosmer in the Webster County Courthouse as a tribute to them and their influence in the community.

     Mrs. Hosmer was once called "The mother of the dairy industry in Webster County."  At the age of 89, she still helped to manage the farm.  Mrs. Hosmer died in 1923 at the age of 92.

    In 1921, John Hosmer married Bess E. Cantrell.  They had one son, John Edmund, born in 1922.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Hosmer were owners of an insurance and loan business in Marshfield for many years.  John continued to run the dairy farm, and he was also a great influence in his community.  John engaged in many enterprises in Marshfield.  In 1905, he was Vice-President of the Bank of Marshfield.  John owned the electric light and power plant, and he started Marshfield's first ice plant about 1912.

  John eventually hired a manager to help run the dairy farm.  In 1933, a six room house was built over the basement of the original log house that burned.  It was constructed of field stone with a composition roof and became the home of farm manager, Ott Atkinson and his family.

     By 1934, Webster County ranked third in Missouri in number of dairy cows, having 23,000 head.  More than 90 percent of the farmers were dairy farmers.  The dairy industry revolutionized the region’s agriculture.  Creameries opened in Marshfield as outlets for much of the cream produced in the area.  It was said that, “Cream checks saved the county.”  Instead of buying goods on time promising to pay when their grain crops were harvested, farmers could afford to pay cash to purchase their goods.  Banker Frank Julian remarked, “Dairy cows have been the salvation of our farmers.”

  In 1935, John Hosmer had terraces constructed on 60 acres of his farm as a practical method of controlling soil erosion, which was a problem for land owners.  With the assistance of the county agent, John held a demonstration in the planning and construction of farm terraces; and he invited Webster County farmers to his farm to observe this means of reclaiming land for cultivation.  Crops were planted with the contours and in strips following the terraces, which helped with soil erosion and conserving moisture.  The Hosmer Dairy Farm continued to set an example of good farm management for other farmers.

  During the 1930s and 1940s, John Hosmer continued to make improvements and some changes on the farm.  Although making their sweet cream butter was discontinued, the creamery still served as a milk house, where the milk was separated and sweet cream was sold each day to a plant in Marshfield.  Later on, Grade A milk was sold and marketed through Benage Dairy Plant in Marshfield.  One report in 1944 showed that Hosmer Dairy milk passed the State Board of Health milk inspection 100 percent on Grade A milk.  The inspector was said to have noted that this was the first time he had ever found milk producing conditions so nearly perfect.  Two additional silos were built on the farm to provide ample storage for silage for the dairy herd, and the old canning factory was remodeled into a large machine shed.  The Hosmer Dairy Farm eventually grew to encompass 1,000 acres.

  Over the years, dozens of newspaper and magazine articles were written about the success of the Hosmer Dairy Farm.  Numerous articles were published locally and nationally, including an extensive write-up in the "Kansas City Star" in January of 1907, "Hoard's Dairyman" magazine in October of 1912, and "The Country Gentleman" magazine in June of 1919.  With no other family member interested in continuing the operation, the Hosmer Dairy Farm was sold in 1948, but the Hosmer legacy continued to grow in Webster County.  Into the 1970s, Webster County was a leading dairy county in Missouri.