[288] Dyer County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

Feb. 1, 2011
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

DYER COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

Wells Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)— The Wells Farm, located in Dyer County, has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in production continuously for at least 100 years.
The Wells Farm is located just four miles west of Dyersburg. Established by John Lucas Wells Sr. in January 1910, the Wells Farm is now beginning its second century. On 87.6 acres of land, John raised cotton, corn, soybeans, milk cows and mules. Married to Mary Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wells, the couple had 10 children, three of whom died when they were young.
In 1954, John Lucas Sr. died, leaving the 87.6 acres to his son, John Lucas Wells, Jr. John Jr. raised cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat. He and his wife, Mary Ruth, had two sons: John L. III and James V. Wells.
In 2007, at the death of Mary Ruth, John and James each received 40 acres of the family farm. Farm manager Bill Bivens raises wheat, soybeans and corn today. John L. Wells III resides in Missouri, and James V. Wells and his wife, Mary Kay, make their home on the family farm.
Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP at 615-898-2947.




Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.