Little Village Farm, a South Dakota treasure
Keith and I recently took our first trip to South Dakota. We stopped at Jim and Joan Lacy’s Little Village Farm. Located three miles east of Trent, they are open April – October by chance or appointment. When we pulled up, Jim came rolling up in a cool REO Oldsmobile old style car replica! Before we left for the day, I got a chance to drive this miraculous machine. What fun!
On the grounds of their farm are several beautiful buildings. Each is full of cool farm antiques and collectibles. Jim shared with me, “I farmed in my younger years. We raised 100 acres of spuds for the fresh market. Irrigation work started taking more and more of our days. So, since 1974, I’m doing what my dad dabbled in starting in 1946.”
Even before entering any buildings, you will admire the dinner bell, power wind mill and more.
Farm Museum
The Little Village Farm is an outdoor museum. Jim said started when their neighbor Max Crisp told him, “Jimmy, you ought to get that round barn near Trent. Well, things over the years sort of multiplied. We built two. One with a green roof that has 16 sides. I also built one next to it.”
The round barn that Max described was moved onto their property. “The round barn was actually a hog sale pavilion 1915 – 1935. The fellow called his place ‘Little Village Farm’. So, we moved the name along with two of the buildings.”
They used a barn loft to create their social hall too. They also have a schoolhouse which was built pre–Dakota Territory. He said, “All in all, it’s a fair amount of work. Many buildings are filled with things from fruit jars to fanning mills along with 10,000 caps up in three buildings.”
Those caps make a colorful view when you look up!
The tour!
Our tour on the grounds began in a former chicken house. “It was in Dell Rapids where the Odd Fellows had an orphanage, they gave it to my wife.”
Jim used the words “gave” loosely. The cost went up as they moved it, shored it up. Then they decorated the little museum with lots of Joan’s cool kitchen stuff. “Joanie and my niece Cheryl Hansen do the decorating,” Jim said about the artfully arranged antiques.
We viewed rolling pins, ricers, cool old-fashioned stoves, and even an old-time bread maker. I love stops with kitchen history!
Building #2!
Our next tour was of a former brooder house. “March 1st was moving day. Back when, if you lost a farm, you moved the brooder house for egg money,” he explained.
Inside the round brooder is an amazing architectural ceiling. Inside, they have a light from a German Social Club. The light reflects on the amazing bottle collection Jim started collecting as a boy. “I started collecting when I was six years’ old.”
Each year Joan washes and resets the bottles. “It takes four days to wash the glass,” Jim added.
He shared stories of several of the unique bottles, each cooler than the last! There were telephone insulators. Indian artifacts included what he called “knee knockers”. Used to keep horses in place when the stone was hobbled between their “knees”.
The Sale Barn.
The sale barn is what started this all. This beautiful round barn is pretty amazing. Along with the barn, Jim also has literature about the barn a catalog “Annual Sale of Duroc-Jersey Bred Sows”. The catalog is dated Jan. 26, 1920. “There used to be bleachers hanging down,” Jim said showing where the bidders would sit during the sale.
There is something amazing everywhere you look. We loved the half scale 65 Case steam engine. There are collapsible grocery store boxes, and more. Case reigns supreme in this barn with several antique tractors, a Case Eagle on the World and more. There is the cast iron train toy Jim found in a building that was going to be torn down when he was nine.
One special tractor is a 1939 John Deere A that belonged to his father, Ed Lacey. There are several signs to go with the tractors and farm collectibles. A cool barn and farmstead miniature is also on display along with a selection of 1/8th scale farm tractors. This is the size that Joan likes.
Again, you need to look up in this beautiful barn where the ceiling comes together. They have placed colorful caps throughout!
Chicken House/Hog Brooder
Kitchen collectibles fill the fun chicken house with items like butter molds. While he called this a chicken house, Jim said it was actually a five sow brooder. “It was used for farrowing five sows.”
There are several variations of incubators. There is a stove that used hard coal. Pointing to an egg scale Jims said, “Eggs were sold by the pound back then.”
To hatch the chicks, he had a couple different versions of incubators. One beautiful wooden incubator came all the way from California. It ran on kerosene and had water for humidity!
The stock barn!
The stock barn Jim said, “Was the only building we moved intact.”
The barn is filled with a variety of items. On display are cream separators, trench art, salt feeders and more! There are even butter churns and farm toys. We were awed by the voice recorder used in an office. “The man recorded his voice, then the stenographer typed from it. Last it got scraped removing the words!”
One of my favorite items was the beautiful grain probe made of brass. The walls are decorated with seed sacks. There is even a Nelson Wind tractor blade! We love windmills!
The Social Hall.
The social hall is built from the top section of a barn used to breed horses. This was part of a former stallion barn. It was located north of Sioux Falls. Lining the road had been a series of native hackberry trees. They cut down a few of these and saw-milled them. A-friend made a beautiful hackberry bench that Jim treasures.
The social hall is quite beautiful. Filled with light, tables and chairs it is ready to entertain a group. Jim and Joan have family reunions in this cool space. Part of a windmill face is above the door adding architectural beauty.
In the storage shed Joan filled the ceiling with their colorful farm hats!
16-sided barn!
The 16-sided barn that Jim built was my favorite. With four beautiful windmills in the center, the arched ceiling is circled with farm hats. A friend built a smaller version of a Baker windmill that is quite astounding
Jim showed us a unique Jones all steel header that was put away in 1939 by his dad. There are several tractors like the 1530 McCormick Deering used by a farmer as a mobile custom corn sheller! Shepherd diesel tractors and even an old perm machine catch attention.
There is a railroad motor car. Best of all is the 1949 Diamond T Pickup his dad bought new in 1949! There is a Minneapolis Moline U that belonged to his grandmother’s nephew. Lots of family connections to items on display with stories for most!
Being in the irrigation business, the wooden pipe was a cool addition.
Pre-fabricated Granary building and more!
The prefabricated granary from the 1920’s was very cool! Jim also had an old jail and lighthouse that Keith had to try out during our visit to Little Village Farm!
Jail museums can be great fun! There is much to be seen at the amazing Little Villages Farm. This South Dakota treasure should be on your radar for an upcoming visit!
