Chellberg Farm facts for kids
Chellberg Farm is a special historic farm. It became part of Indiana Dunes National Park in 1972. This farm is important because it shows the history of a Swedish-American community. This community was once very active but is now mostly forgotten. The farm has a family home, a water house with a windmill, a chicken coop, and the original barn. Other Swedish places nearby, like the Burstrom Chapel and Cemetery, have also been saved.
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Why did Swedes Settle Here?
Swedish immigrants came to Baillytown in Porter County, Indiana for a few reasons. There were new jobs available. Also, like many immigrants, they wanted to live near others from their home country. Baillytown was close to Chicago. This made it easy for Swedes to move there between the 1840s and 1920s.
The railroad arrived in the 1850s. It helped people settle and transport lumber. A local story says that an early Swedish immigrant, Jonas Asp, helped Joel Wicker. Joel Wicker recruited Swedes, including the Kjellberg family, to work on his land. These new settlers then told their friends and family to join them. The immigrants provided the workers needed to build farms, railroads, and factories. The Swedish-American community was very close. They kept their culture alive by teaching Swedish to their children. They also built Swedish churches and held social events.
Buildings on the Farm
The Farmhouse: A Victorian Home
The main house was built in 1885. It is called "folk Victorian" style. This was a popular design across the United States in the late 19th century. The house first had a "T-shaped plan." This meant it had a two-story section and a one-story part. This design allowed for a porch to be added in the "L" shape.
The house had a living room, many bedrooms, and a kitchen. Later, a special fireplace was added in the dining room. A glass-enclosed front porch was also added. This glass porch was removed during later repairs. Like many buildings here, local workers and materials were used. The red brick on the house is made from local clay. This clay was used in a busy brick-making industry.
The Barn: A Place for Animals and Crops
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The barn is over 130 years old and is still standing. It was built between 1870 and 1879. This design was common for barns at that time. In 1880, the Chellbergs had two milk cows, six other cattle, two sheep, and five horses. Over the years, the barn's use changed. By the 1900s, the family ran a dairy farm. Windows were likely added then for more light and fresh air. In 1917, a silo was built to store silage (fermented feed for animals).
The barn is 50 feet long and 24 feet wide. It stands 25 feet tall. It was built with strong wooden beams from oak, elm, ash, maple, and basswood trees. It was first built on stone supports. Carl Chellberg added a concrete floor in 1938. The barn faces east to west to get the most sunlight. It is also near a ravine, which helps block winter winds.
The Corncrib: Storing Corn Safely
The corncrib you see today was built in 1941. Carl Chellberg designed and built it himself. The Chellbergs had different types of corncribs over the years. This one is a single storage building north of the house. It faces north and south to fit the farm's space. It sits on concrete posts to keep rodents away. Large wooden beams are on top of these posts. The floor is made from wood taken from the old silo. Later, wire mesh was put inside the walls to protect from pests even more.
The south wall of the corncrib used to be shared with a tractor shed. That shed is now gone. It held the Chellbergs' 1939 Allis-Chalmers tractor. Once the tractor arrived, it was used for harvesting instead of horses.
The Granary: Storing Grains
The granary is a two-story wooden building. It is located just west of the farmhouse. It was used to store harvested grains.
Maple Sugar Camp: Making Syrup
The sugar Shack was built in the 1930s. It's a simple building made of concrete blocks. It was used to turn sugar maple sap into maple syrup. The building has one room, 12 feet by 24 feet, with a concrete floor. It has double wooden doors and a metal roof. Inside, there's a boiling pan over a brick fire box. This connects to a brick chimney. The camp is still used every spring to make maple syrup.
Historic American Buildings Survey Gallery
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Chellberg Farmhouse (1885)
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Elevations
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Original Barn (1900)
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Chicken Coop, previously the hired help quarters
The Chicken Coop: Home for Chickens
This small, one-room building was built around 1879. It has a sloped roof with wood shingles. It is 10 feet by 24 feet and sits on a brick foundation. The outside walls are made of vertical wooden boards. The inside walls were plastered.
The Chellberg Family Story
The Kjellbergs Arrive in America
Anders Ludwig Kjellberg (born 1830) and Johanna (Anderson) Kjellberg (born 1829) married in Sweden in the 1850s. They came to the U.S. in 1863 with their son, Carl (born 1859). Family stories say they moved straight to the Bailly area. They did not live at the farm's current spot right away. They first lived on Mineral Springs Road.
The 1871 Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of Chicago's Swedish community. Many Swedes then moved to the Swedish community in Indiana. A popular story says the Kjellberg family met Joel Wicker in Chicago. Joel hired Anders to clear land for planting. Joel supposedly gave the family a small log house.
Anders Kjellberg was a tailor and a preacher in the Lutheran Church in Sweden. He continued to focus on his religion after moving. He helped start the Swedish Lutheran Church, now called Augsburg Lutheran Church. The Kjellbergs' second child, Carolyn, was born in the mid-1860s. She died when she was three or four. The family also took in a foster son, Simon Larson, who was born in 1874.
Starting Life in Northwest Indiana
In October 1869, the family officially bought the Chellberg Farm property. On November 1, 1869, the Kjellberg (Chellberg) family took over the farm. John Oherg and Anders Kjellberg bought 80 acres from J. H. Wicker. It cost $12.00 per acre. They also paid off an older debt of $1000.
There were no buildings on the land, and it was not cleared for farming. In 1870, the census showed the family of four living there. Only 4 acres of land were ready for farming. They had not grown any crops in their first year. But they had animals: two milk cows, two other cattle, and two pigs. Their only farm product was 100 pounds of butter.
Clearing the land was a slow job. In a good year, they might clear only 15 acres. It was more likely they cleared 5 to 10 acres a year. Clearing the land gave them wood to sell for lumber and firewood. Most farms in the area were small and grew many different things. The Chellbergs had an orchard. It likely produced apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, strawberries, and raspberries.
On April 4, 1872, Anders Kjellberg bought another 40 acres. This was the northern part of the property. The first house (before the brick one) and the barn were built between 1869 and 1872. The well and outhouse were probably built early too. By 1879, the farm had thirty chickens, eight cows, two sheep, eleven pigs, and five horses. A chicken house was likely built before 1879. A corncrib might also have been built before 1879. That year, the farm grew 100 bushels of Indian corn from 40 acres. They also grew oats, rye, and wheat. Five tons of hay were harvested. One acre of Irish potatoes produced 75 bushels.
Building the brick farmhouse in 1885 was a big step. For many families, a new, larger house showed they were doing well. But the Chellberg farmhouse was built because a fire destroyed their first home. Using brick for the new house was probably to make sure another fire would not threaten the family.
The Second Generation: Carl Chellberg Takes Over (1893–1908)
Anders Kjellberg died on April 16, 1893, when he was 63. His son, C. L. Chellberg, became the farm owner. He bought his mother's and sister's shares. C. L. paid them $3500 and promised to care for them for life. C. L. started to farm in a more scientific way. He read "The Farm Journal" and looked for new farming ideas. In 1896, he started getting "Farmer's Bulletins" from the United States Department of Agriculture.
C. L. Chellberg likely started building up his dairy herd around 1901. Emily Kjellberg, C.L.'s sister, married Alfred Borg in 1897. They lived on the farm with their two children until 1901. Alfred was a carpenter and brick worker. He might have earned money working outside the farm. In 1899, Johanna Kjellberg died at age 70. C. L. Chellberg, Emily, and Alfred Borg lived in the farmhouse together. This changed when C. L. married Ottomina in 1901. Then, Emily and Alfred moved away with their children. They lived with relatives until their own home was built around 1904.
The Chellberg Dairy Farm (1908–1937)
By 1908, the Chellbergs had changed from growing mostly grains to a dairy and grain farm. The Chicago, South Bend and South Shore Railroad was finished. A train stop was only a mile away. With daily trains, they could sell milk to the dairy in East Chicago. Over the years, C.L. and Ottomina's children, Naomi and Carl, and their children worked on the farm. Naomi (1907–1988) moved away only after marrying Alden Studebaker in 1926. Even the grandchildren, Ann Chellberg Medley and Henry and Arthur Studebaker, spent much of their childhood on the farm. The dairy farm likely stopped sometime between the 1920s and 1930s. This might have been when the South Shore train stop closed near the farm. Or it slowly became too hard to get milk to the train every day.
The Third Generation: Carl Chellberg and New Changes (1937–1972)
C. L. Chellberg died in 1937. The farm was shared among his wife and three children. His son Carl Chellberg became the main manager. But everyone was involved in decisions. They did not keep up with the changing economy. Factories and businesses replaced farming as the main way to earn money. Like many farmers today, Carl worked in town to make enough money. He found a job in a machine shop in Chesterton.
In 1938, Carl married Hilda Johnson. They had two children. They lived in an apartment on the remodeled second floor of the farmhouse. Minnie Chellberg died in 1952 at age 82. Minnie took care of the house gardens, both vegetables and flowers. She also looked after the orchard and continued to raise chickens.
Around the 1940s, Carl Chellberg started raising sheep. He kept about 60 sheep. The sheep were sold at auctions for meat. The sheep grazed all over the farm. They were kept in two sheep sheds built during this time. A large addition was built onto the south side of the barn in 1954. Carl Chellberg, Henry Studebaker, and Arthur Studebaker built it. Another sheep shed was built behind the granary. This building was smaller and made of corrugated iron. Eventually, in the mid to late 1950s, Carl Chellberg took a job at a machine shop in Chesterton and sold the sheep. Hilda Johnson Chellberg worked as a cook at a local restaurant. Once both Carl and Hilda had jobs off the farm, farming became a side activity. It was no longer the main family business.
Around 1940, electricity was brought to the farm. During 1943, 1944, and 1945, Henry and Arthur Studebaker grew vegetables to sell to local people. They had a 2-acre garden south of the orchard. They grew vegetables to sell door-to-door in Dune Acres. They grew many different vegetables like asparagus, lima beans, snap beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, kale, lettuce, endive, cantaloupe, watermelons, okra, onions, leeks, parsnips, peas, peppers, sweet potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, chard, squash, tomatoes, turnips, rutabagas, and sweet corn. They also grew herbs like horseradish, dill, sage, chives, and parsley.
Nearby Swedish Landmarks
Other important Swedish landmarks nearby have been saved. These include the Burstrom Chapel and the Burstrom Cemetery.
See also
