To inform, to educate, and to involve, that is what the Farmington Area Historical Society is about.

One way the FAHS informs, educates, and involves the community is to recognize individuals, families and community organizations who have contributed to the improvement of the understanding of Farmington Area History. The Benita Devney History Award, the highest honor presented by the FAHS, is presented to those who have helped us understand that history. Devney, was a teacher, researcher, author, and historian. She graduated from Lakeville High School and received her teaching degree from the Farmington Normal School. She taught in Eureka for many years.

The Benita Deveny History Award was created in 1997 as a part of Farmington’s 125^th anniversary celebration. It was presented that year to Catherine Boehlke for her work writing the history of the Church of the Advent, and Patricia Murphy for her work writing the history of the Church of St. Michael.

Gene Clay, and Karla and Roger Duff are the 1999 recipients of the History award.

Clay, a retired journalist, shares with us his knowledge of the Farmington area and he shares that knowledge with us in the form of stories. Not fictional stories or something generic. But factual stories. The who, the what, the when, the where, and the why stories that only a journalist can tell.

The Duff's, and others, have made it possible for patrons of the Farmington library to do advanced research thanks to the Duff's work and contributions to purchase the microfilm reader and microfilm newspapers.

Patrons no longer need to go the State Historical Society in St. Paul or the County Historical Society in South St. Paul or the branch library in Eagan to see and study Farmington’s old newspapers. They are here where they belong. The microfilm reader and newspapers are the most valuable tools the community has to learn more about the Farmington area history. Patrons use them to research their house history and family history as well.

Thank you Gene, Karla and Roger.

The Farmington Area Historical Society conferred an honor to the City of Farmington as one of the County’s oldest communities. One of the County’s "first born" territorial community’s.

For many years, it was believed that Farmington did not exist before the arrival of the railroad in 1865. It is now know that the community is much older. A description of the community found in the Dakota Weekly Journal, a territorial newspaper published in Hastings, dated June 21, 1856 says, "Farmington is situated on the Vermillion River, about fifteen miles from Hastings. This place is rightly named, for it looks like a village of farms. Good soil, good water, good timber and intelligent citizen is their wealth."

Farmington became the County’s second largest community at the turn of the century. It was know for its excellent school and health care facilities. It was a show town with its music hall. The County’s political conventions were held here and it was the western business and service hub of the County.

Farmington has retained most of its Victorian era downtown business buildings and many of its fine older homes. The envy of surrounding communities.

Our knowledge and understanding of the Farmington area history has greatly improved. New information about the community has changed our perception about the community.

It is the responsibility of the Farmington Area Historical Society to make that information available to the public. To inform, to educate and to involve.

Dr. Thomas Mega, a native of South St. Paul and Chair of the History Department at the University of St. Thomas, was selected to write the book.

The two-year project will keep the FAHS busy researching information, and gathering and taking photographs of the Farmington Area.

An extensive amount of Farmington Area research has already been compiled but needs to be refined for the books tentative twenty topics. The photographs of the Harriet Clay collection given to the FAHS by Gene Clay will be made available to the committee. Private collections will also be made available.

The maps list the names and locations of businesses, churches, fraternal halls, and the school. The neighborhoods and their homes are detailed with all their outbuildings. Studying the maps, you notice how the backyard stable that housed the horse and buggy become the garage for the family automobile. Chicken coops disappear. Residential lot sizes change as they are subdivided and new homes on the divided lots were constructed. Lot sizes became smaller as Farmington grew larger.

The maps are so detailed it is possible to see the dimensions of the buildings and what materials were used in their construction. The street addresses of the homes and businesses are also included.

Work on collecting information about Farmington's businesses was started before the FAHS was officially organized in September 1998. Earlier that year, Austa Harmer, and Wendy Kooda developed a map of the downtown business district that was used as the starting point for the present database. Old photographs of businesses where accumulated and the best efforts were taken to determine their locations. The maps now give the exact locations of the businesses.

Recently the FAHS was asked to research and write the history of the Farmington Bakery. The approximate whereabouts of the first bakery, the Samlofsky residence, located somewhere between Elm and Third Streets, was already known. The 1885 map not only shows the exact location of the Samolfsky bakery, 438 Third Street, but its competition. The Mary Emmons bakery at 415 Third Street was listed and surprisingly a third bakery as well. No information about the third bakery, 409 Third Street, has been found as of yet.

Another surprise was the Niskern Hotel, on the corner of Oak and Second Streets. A shock of corn stalks leaning against the hotel's stable and a spark from a wood-burning steam locomotive was the cause of the Great Fire of 1879. The hotel was rebuilt after the fire and renamed the Commerical Hotel. However, in 1910, according to the maps, it was the Hotel Akin. Detailed descriptions its several rooms, and its heating source, steam heat, and lighting, acetylene gas,

The Sanborn Insurance maps give the FAHS a clearer picture of the changes the business and residential areas of the community have experienced.

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