“We’re very proud to have a 150-year-old farm”

Published 7:16 am Monday, August 3, 2026

MENDON — A sense of history is never far away from Bill and Glenda Todd on the family farm.

What was known as the Disselhorst, then Dedert, and now Todd farm along U.S. 24 dates back to 1876 and her great-grandfather.

“He’s the one that built the barn in 1893,” Todd said.

Maintaining the buildings, and the farm itself, over the years for the next generation and beyond was important to the family — and so was spending time each year at the Adams County Fair.

Three generations of the family came together Sunday night at the fair for a recognition event adding the Todd Farm and the Kent and Angela Lepper Farm as Adams County heritage farms and recognizing the Moorman Foundation as the sustaining sponsor of the program recognizing farms owned and operated by the same family for 150 years or more.

“We’re very proud to have a 150-year-old farm in our family. We have a couple more Lepper generations coming, so we hope it stays in the family for quite a few more years,” said Lepper, the fifth generation of the family on the Melrose Township farm. “I thank our families for doing this, for sticking together. It’s hard to do this. There’s not a lot of farms that can say this.”

The Adams County Bicentennial Commission recognized 85 heritage farms last year, added two more this year, and plans to continue the recognition in five-year increments starting in 2030, with plaques posted in the Heritage Farms Pavilion on the fairgrounds near Mendon.

Two new legacy sponsors of the pavilion, the Dave and Linda Duncan and Wendell Wray families, and Liberty Bank, also were recognized, bringing the total number of sponsors to 23.

“This is just a reflection of the farming community in Adams County,” said commission member Mark Peter, who spearheaded the pavilion project. “It’s great to have all these heritage farms and great to have sponsors willing to step up financially.”

The foundation supported the pavilion, and the heritage farms project, as a way to honor the legacy of the Moorman family and the company approaching 30 years after the sale to ADM.

“This is one of the key ways, a very fitting first step, to honor that legacy because the farm families that are being recognized in the pavilion were the loyal customers and coworkers of the company and really helped to build the company into what it became,” Moorman Foundation Executive Director Sharon Tweedell said.

“It was such an important part of our community for over 100 years and really set the tone for a lot of great things in our community — a sense of philanthropy and generosity and caring for your neighbors — as well as just the company being such a powerhouse in the ag industry, not only nationwide but worldwide. So many innovations were made by the company that impacted the way that agriculture happens today.”

A timeline on the pavilion wall traces the history of the company from its origins in 1885 until its sale in 1997.

“In many ways, the history of the Moorman Company parallels the history of farming in Adams County,” Moorman Foundation Board Member Mike Hulsen said. “Our shared past was not always easy — we experienced adverse weather patterns, contagious animal disease, two world wars, and the Great Depression.”

Charles Moorman, son of company founder Thomas Moorman, and his wife, Fabiola, established a charitable trust on Christmas Eve 1942 with an initial gift of $5,000 and a goal to benefit the community.

“The trust was set up for the purpose to promote education, advance health care, support the arts, and in general contribute to the health and wellbeing of our community,” Hulsen said. “As the company enjoyed successful years, their foundation also benefited.”

The fairgrounds, and the wider region, benefit from the pavilion built as a lasting reminder of the county’s bicentennial celebration.

“We just couldn’t be more pleased and more proud of this beautiful structure and what it represents — all the heritage of the family farms throughout the years that have been part of this great county and this great fair,” Adams County Fair Board Vice President Leon Obert said.

“What better foundation to help carry the legacy of these farms on for the years, to help continue to fund this to make this happen,” he said. “Everyone is very honored we had such a great company like Moorman’s get involved.”