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