Roswell and Elizabeth Garst Farmstead Historic District facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Garst Farmstead Historic District
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 Location in Iowa
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| Location | Orange Township, Guthrie County, at 1390 Highway 141, Coon Rapids, Iowa postal address |
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| Area | 53.3 acres (216,000 m2) |
| NRHP reference No. | 09000610 |
| Added to NRHP | August 12, 2009 |
The Roswell and Elizabeth Garst Farmstead Historic District is a special farm in Guthrie County, Iowa, United States. It's located near the town of Coon Rapids. This farm is important because it was the home of Roswell Garst. He was a farmer who helped make farming more modern.
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The Garst Farm: A Place of Innovation
Roswell Garst played a big role in changing old-style family farms. He helped them become more like modern businesses. This change happened during the 1930s and 1940s.
Roswell Garst: The Corn Innovator
Roswell Garst was a key person in selling hybrid corn seeds. Hybrid corn is a special type of corn that grows much better. It produces a lot more corn from the same amount of land. This was a huge step forward for farmers.
Garst also believed in using special chemicals called fertilizers. These fertilizers, like nitrogen, help the soil stay healthy. This meant farmers didn't have to leave fields empty. They could grow more corn every year. He also found a way to use leftover parts of corn, like corncobs. These could be used as food for cattle.
A Special Visitor: Khrushchev's Trip
The Garst farm is also famous for a very important visit. On September 23, 1959, Nikita Khrushchev came to the farm. He was the leader of the Soviet Union at that time.
This wasn't their first meeting. Khrushchev had asked to visit Garst's farm. Soviet officials had first seen the farm in 1955. It was an unofficial stop on their tour. The Garst farm was a large, modern farm. It was similar to the big farms in the Soviet Union.
Later, Roswell Garst visited the Soviet Union. He went there to sell hybrid corn. He also shared ideas about modern American farming. He met Khrushchev, and they got along well. Three years later, a group of Soviet officials spent three months at the farm. They learned all about its activities.
When Khrushchev visited America in 1959, he insisted on visiting Garst's farm.
The comparison between a small Iowa farm community and a similar community in the Soviet Union must have been very striking indeed.
After the visit, Llewellyn Thompson said it was one of the most important parts of Khrushchev's trip. This visit, along with problems in Soviet farming, led Khrushchev to try to improve their own farms.
The Farm Today
The main building on the farm is a farmhouse. The farm also includes many other buildings and structures.
The Garst Farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 2009. This means it's recognized as an important historical site. Today, the main house of the Garst Farmstead is used as an office. It is the office for the Whiterock Conservancy.
The farm is located at 1390 Highway 141. This is in the northwestern part of Guthrie County.
