CENTURY-OLD FARMS IN AREA RECOGNIZED AT CEREMONY

Two Cape Girardeau farms were designated as "Century Farms" during a recent ceremony at the University of Missouri Extension Office at Jackson.

Farms selected in the county for 2000 included the Fornkohl farm, at 823 County Road 63, and the Peetz Farm, near Tilsit.

Dwayn Fornkohl, a great-great-grandson of Henry Brockmire, who acquired the land in 1881, raises cattle on the 67-acre farm now.

"This farm has been in the family about 120 years," said Fornkohl, who makes his home in the 1936 era brick farmhouse.

He has lived on the farm, in another house, since the early 1970s.

"I like the farm," said Fornkohl, who applied for Century Farm status last year.

Fornkohl is the grandson of Albert Brockmire, who lived on the property until his death a couple of years ago.

The two-story brick house is not as large as it may appear.

"Actually it's a 30 x 30 brick house, said Fornkohl. "It has about 900 square feet downstairs and another 400 to 450 upstairs."

The house has front and back porches the entire length of the house, said Betty Fornkohl.

Betty and her husband, Normal Fornkohl, the younger Fornkohl's parents, live in a second house on the farm.

The Peetz Farm consists of 150 acres. Marsha Peetz Birk applied for the Century Farm designation. The farm was originally founded by Birk's great-great-grandparents, William and Mary Meyer, in 1881.

The Birk family and her mother, Edna Peetz, live on the farm.

Birk's husband raised cattle on the farm.

More farms sought

The Century Farm Program was started in 1986 as a continuation of the Centennial Farm program of 1976, a one-year program for the American Revolution Bicentennial Year, when a total of 2,850 Missouri farms were recognized as Centennial Farms.

Since then, more than 4,250 Missouri farms and families have been recognized through the Century Farm program,

Fifty-six Cape Girardeau County farms have been recognized as Century Farms, with the oldest farm on the record a 1997 entry of a farm dating back to 1823. Other long time farms in the county date back to 1840, 1850, 1853 and 1854.

Four county farms were recognized in 1988 when the program was revived. Nine more farms were added the following year.

The search is on again now for Missouri farms that have been in the same family 100 years or more.

Applications this year must be returned by July 4.

For more information, call the local Extension office or the University of Missouri Century Farm office at (573) 882-7216.