Erwin Sellenriek says he was the ”youngest and dumbest” of five brothers who inherited 122 acres of farmland in St. Louis County.
”I was the only dumb one out of the whole bunch – you can put that in there,” Sellenriek said with a wary eye on a reporter`s notebook. ”I never made a lot of money, but I did a lot of work.”
But at 78, Sellenriek is the only surviving brother and the only family member holding onto a piece of the land-and he doesn`t seem so dumb.
He and his wife, Pearl, still live in the two-story white farmhouse his grandfather built 110 years ago. The new siding and windows cost more than the $3,200 his grandfather paid for the house, Sellenriek said.
In addition to the house, Sellenriek still owns 10 of the original acres, sharing the land with five white-faced Herefords and a handsome crop of tomatoes that he sells to the store down the road.
Sellenriek is a holdout. He is among the last of the county farmers living in pricy suburbia. There were 357 farmers working 57,088 acres of land in St. Louis County the last time anybody counted, which was 1987. That might sound like a lot until compared to the same figures 30 years ago: 1,235 farmers and 118,096 acres.
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”All those people in here that were farmers, they never made any money farming,” said Sellenriek. ”But if they kept the property long enough, they made money when they sold.”
From lawn chairs under the ash, maple and pin oak trees that shade their front yard, the Sellenrieks share a cool breeze as they look at the homes of the millionaires around them.
Tony Novelly of Apex Oil is on the opposite side of Missouri Highway 40, in a mansion surrounded by a security fence. Executives of Citicorp Mortgage Inc. and Southwestern Bell Corp. live in $500,000 and up houses abutting the rear of the Sellenriek property.
”They`ve got swimming pools right along our place. We hear them when they entertain,” said Erwin Sellenriek. ”And (former baseball star) Lou Brock lives right over there.”
Erwin Sellenriek knows that his property, which includes a small rental house, has grown in value and is worth far more now than the $600 an acre he got for selling 15 acres when the highway came through several years ago. But he hesitates to hazard a guess at a figure, for fear the tax appraiser might be listening.
”We already pay plenty,” his wife said.
The neighbors hope that the Sellenrieks continue to hold out. ”They do fear what will happen to this farm if we sell,” said Erwin Sellenriek.
Although Sellenriek says his age prevents him from keeping the place up the way he used to, the vine-covered barns and his wife`s flower garden make for a picturesque setting.