The Rosenthal Homestead in Crown Point may be down to 20 acres, but it’s still the heart of the extended family that has grown from it for six generations.
“I’ve never moved out of it in my life,” said Toni Rosenthal-Claus, who lives there with her husband Joel and their children. The farm at 600 W. 153rd Avenue was given the Sesquicentennial Hoosier Homestead Award in August.
In all, 135 Hoosier farms across the state received awards this year.
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years and consist of more than 20 acres. If less than 20 acres, the farm must produce more than $1,000 of agricultural products per year. Indiana farms may qualify for three honors: Centennial Award for 100 years of ownership, Sesquicentennial Award for 150 years of ownership and the Bicentennial Award for 200 years of ownership, according to a release from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.
Since the program’s inception in 1976, over 6,400 families have received the Hoosier Homestead Award, according to the release.
Rosenthal-Claus grew up with her aunts and uncle living in the houses on either side, and her cousins still flock to the homestead with their children for holidays. Adolph Rosenthal bought the farm in 1869.
The homestead was as large as 180 acres in her lifetime, but “before that it was much more,” said Rosenthal-Claus. “The Centennial (Award) was given to my parents, and I wasn’t even alive.”
Half a century later, she grows round bales of hay for a customer who feeds them to Belgian draft horses. “I’ve always wanted to be a farmer,” she said. “I’m barely a farmer growing hay.”
It was her dream to have her kids grow up on the family farm and Rosenthal-Claus gives credit to her husband for making that possible. “He’s an electrician and it’s because of him that I’m able to do everything that I do.”
That’s included making many renovations to the homestead over the years since they took over ownership in 2001, including replacing a crumbling foundation. The center of the house is the original structure to which a school house was added on one side, and Rosenthal-Claus and her husband put an addition on another.
As with most homesteads, there is some death lore. “We literally have people buried in our front yard, because that’s what you did,” Rosenthal-Claus revealed. An unidentified drifter also froze to death on the property in the winter of 1900.
That’s the extent of the macabre for the Rosenthal Homestead. Mostly it lives up to its name. “Our name means rose in the valley in German, so when he (Adolph Rosenthal) came to America he chose a location that looked like a valley,” said Rosenthal-Claus.
“My cousin once said to me that a farm is like a quilt that we all add our pieces to. It changes, but it’s still the same basis,” she said. In fact, she has a barn quilt she’s saving to put up on the old barn, which she hopes to renovate as her next restoration project on the property.
The Rosenthal Homestead was the only honoree in Lake County this year, but Porter County also had a sesquicentennial honoree and three centennial honorees. The Pumroy Homestead at 1041 S. 600 E in Kouts was started in 1919, the Pope Homestead at 62 E 950 N in Chesterton was started in 1926, the Reif-Miller Homestead was started in 1924 at 1056 S. Baums Bridge Rd. in Kouts, and the Hardesty Homestead at 358 N 650 W in Valparaiso was started in 1853.
Andrew Hardesty’s parents Jean and Curt Hardesty are the sixth generation to live there.
Their family also received a Centennial Award in 2001. Ancestor David Hardesty was the original owner in 1853. Hardesty provided the original deed when applying for the sesquicentennial award and said it shows David paid $145 for the 80 acres.
“We’ve been in the states for quite some time before that,” Hardesty said. “We came from Ohio and before that we were in Maryland.” The family still farms today.
If the long-debated Willowcreek Road extension comes to fruition, it will bisect 120 acres that make up the homestead today. The possible road extension isn’t the first threat to the homestead. In 1925, the farm was almost lost to a lawsuit. Ancestor William Hardesty had passed away.
“When William passed away, I believe he owed money and that’s why it went to a sheriff’s auction and my family bought it back,” Hardesty said of the $3,100 Harmon Hardesty paid at the time to keep the farm in the family.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.