[419]STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GIBSON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 22, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GIBSON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
114-Year-Old Baker-Young Farm Becomes County’s Newest Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)— The Baker-Young Farm in Gibson County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
In 1894, Jasper J. Baker acquired more than 200 acres from his father, Isaac Newton Baker. Jasper and his wife, Jane Pennington Baker, had two children, James Drury Baker and Jasper Newton Baker. The family grew cotton, corn and wheat and raised Black Angus cattle, Yorkshire hogs, chickens, mules and horses.
“The Baker family has a long history in the county and is credited, along with the M. M. Warren family, with founding the community of Warren Town, the forerunner of Tigrett,” Hankins observed.
The next owner of the land was James Drury Baker, who obtained the property in 1898. James married Loujean Hassell Baker and they were the parents of five children: Eudora Baker Young, Georgia Baker Chambers, James Thomas Baker, Isaac Hassell Baker and Allie Maie Baker Pigue. During this time, the farm produced cotton, corn, wheat, cattle, hogs, chickens, mules and horses.
Known for her well-ordered household, Loujean even raked the chicken yard almost daily, according to the family’s records. About 1911, the railroad was constructed through the Baker and Warren land and at this time, the name of the town was changed to Tigrett in honor of Mr. I. B. Tigrett of Jackson, Tenn., who owned the B, N & W Railroad.
During the early years of Tigrett, the community consisted of a post office, a barbershop, a dry goods store and a drugstore. When the Tigrett Methodist Church congregation outgrew their log cabin at the end of the 19th century, the Bakers donated land for a new white frame building and provided much of the labor and many of the materials for the church. For example, James Drury Baker and his brother, Jasper Newton Baker, purchased the pews and hauled them to Tigrett with their wagons and mules. In 1920, the building was moved to another tract of land that was donated by the Baker family.
The third generation to own the farm was Eudora Baker Young. Eudora’s husband, Warner Eugene Young, owned and operated an automobile repair shop/Mobile gasoline station on a small corner of the property. In addition, he served as the community blacksmith with his smithy facilities located inside the auto-repair business. The large blacksmith’s fire pit was the site of numerous community fish fries.
Eudora and Warner had four children. Their names were Jo Young Hall, Elizabeth Young Farmer, Wana Baker Young and Nancy Coleen Young Claybrook. These children eventually inherited the farm.
Today, the land is owned by the great-great-granddaughter of the founder, Sandra Hall Arnold. She and husband John Richard Arnold have two children, Melissa JoNell Arnold Nichols and John Richard Arnold Jr. Currently, the farm is worked by Thomas Rice, a successful local farmer who primarily raises cotton.
Recently, Rice began negotiating with Ducks Unlimited regarding a wetlands project whereby the land could be drained and farmed during the spring and summer months and restored to wetlands during the autumn and winter months.
Regarding the farm, Hankins noted, “Sandra Hall Arnold is also the owner, along with Melissa Arnold Nichols and John Richard Arnold Jr. of the Dowland-Hall Century Farm, a 150-acre farm of which 20 acres is from the original 1890 farm. She is among a very fortunate but few Tennesseans who own Century Farms from both their maternal and paternal families.”
Arnold, who has researched her family and community history, has commented, “I am so blessed and eternally grateful to my ancestors for their hard work and their wisdom in ‘holding onto the land.’”
The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial.
Today, the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.




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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request a jpeg of the Century Farm metal sign that is placed on designated properties, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.