There’s Something Special About These 14 Missouri Farms From The Past

Missouri is covered with farmland, and has a rich history of much of the state being farmed for a variety of foods, cotton, and seed.  Missouri also has abundant livestock farms, providing beef, pork, and dairy products.  Back in the late 1930's and early 1940's, a lot of farmers were relocated by the government in order to best manage Missouri resources.  Miners were given subsistence farms that allowed them to grow their own food.  In addition, due to World War II, a lot of farmers had their land purchased in order to build Camp Crowder.  All of these photos are from that time period, and show what things looked like for farmers back then.

1. New Madrid

A farm unit at Southeast Missouri Farms in New Madrid County, January 1939.

2. New Madrid

An ex-sharecropper and FSA (Farm Security Administration) client, going to work in the fields, New Madrid County, May 1938.

3. Caruthersville

Background photo on the rear porch of an FSA (Farm Security Administration) client's old home in Caruthersville, August 1938.

4. New Madrid

Flooded farm near New Madrid, February 1937.

5. Osage Farms, Jackson

A modern dairy farm at the Bois d'Arc cooperative makes efficient milk production possible. The Bois d’Arc Cooperative Farm was a Depression-era farm that was established by the federal government in 1937 by the Resettlement Administration/Farm Security Administration.

6. St. Charles County

This farm belonged to a man named John Dixon and consisted of 110 acres planted in corn, wheat, oats and hay. Photo taken in Saint Charles County, November 1939.

7. Washington County

Some of the fifteen-acre subsistence farms developed by the FSA (Farm Security Administration) for tiff miners in Washington County, November 1939.

8. LaForge, New Madrid

Southeast Missouri Farms. Kitchen of home of new farm unit. Southeast Missouri Farms' La Forge project, May 1938.

9. New Madrid

This is a submarginal cotton farm on the other side of the levee in New Madrid County, May 1940.

10. Bates County

Part of the Bates County relocation project, this Farm unit was built on land bought by FSA (Farm Security Administration). This place would later be occupied by one of the displaced farmers from the Camp Crowder construction area. Photo taken in February 1942 in Bates County.

11. Newton County

In the Camp Crowder area, this is James Mallory in his Ozark farmhouse. His land had been bought by the Army for construction of Camp Crowder, and the next week, with the aid of the FSA (Farm Security Administration), he moved to 160 acres of land and an entirely new type of farming. Photo taken in February 1942.

12. Clearmont, Nodaway County

Farm buildings and a home, two miles south of Clearmont, near the Iowa state line, September 1941.

13. Marceline

A farm landscape along the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, north of Marceline in March 1943.

14. Dunklin County

A farm boy using welding equipment on a farm that receives U.S. Rural Electrification Administration (REA) power, July 1942.

Do you have memories of this time period and farming in Missouri?  Did you live on one of these farms?  Please share your photos and stories below.