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April 1999
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April 1999
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South Bend HPC
HPC Document Type
Minutes
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1001401
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NPS Form 10- 900 -a _ - OMS Approval No. 1024 -0018 <br />1e -861 _ <br />United States Department of the Interior <br />National Park Service <br />National Register of Historic Places <br />Continuation Sheet <br />Section number R Page <br />Wertz- Bestle Farm St. Joseph County IN <br />NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE <br />The Wertz - Bestle Farm is a substantial remnant- -one of the few <br />remaining - -of an 1870s farmstead in German Township of St. Joseph <br />County, once an entirely agricultural area noted as "highly <br />favorable" to that purpose. The property contains a brick T- <br />aabled farmhouse and a particularly fine frame Schweitzer barn.: <br />it was designated a Local Historic Landmark by the Historic <br />Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County in <br />1993. The property is eligible for the National Register of <br />Historic Places under Criterion A for its significance in the <br />area of agriculture in St. Joseph County, and under Criterion C <br />in the area of architecture, for its splendid example of a <br />Schweitzer barn. <br />German Township was so named in 1830 (its oresent boundaries were <br />established by 1840) for some early settlers in the region from <br />Germany. From the start the area was noted as rertil: and <br />"highly favored for agriculture." John Wertz. who was born in - <br />Ohio in 1.831 of German parents. (--,-;me to St. Joseph County in <br />1853. settling first in Center Township, where two years later he <br />married Belinda Kollar. who was also from Ohio and of German <br />parentage. Although -he could not even write his name, Wertz wale <br />nevertheless noted to be "industrious. upri�tht and honest'," in a.".1 <br />his dealings. He and Belinda had six children. In 1872 then <br />moved to German Townshio lento 120 acres of land straddling the <br />Niles Road north of Auten Road, just south of the Michigan :state <br />line. West of the road they built.* or had built for them. the <br />brick farmhouse. The frame Schweitzer barn was probably built at <br />the same time or shortly after. Wertz sold the land past of the <br />road - -33 acres - -iii 1875 to one David Wagner. Three years later. <br />Wertz sold the remaining 87 acres with the farm buildings. but <br />continued to live and farm elsewhere in German Townshio. <br />German -born Godfrey (alternatively. Bestley) purchased the <br />property from John Wertz. He had come to America at the age of <br />26, first settling in Michigan just north of the Indiana state <br />line in 1852. where he married Dora Beyrer. also a German native. <br />three ,years later. The Bestle family, which eventually included <br />nine children, first .,came to German Township in 1864. Described <br />as "a hardworking, industrious man all his life." Bestle and his <br />family ultimately farmed not only what had been the Wertz <br />property, but add: tI , n a 1 ' cr e in Gie.rrian T; iwrt;?hip and A_ cross <br />the state line. Typical of late - nineteenth and early - twentieth <br />century practices in the area. they indulged in mixed farming, <br />
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