Downtown Topeka Farmer's Market

In the 1950's, driving thru the Kaw River area outside of Topeka was a trip through a world of fruit. Many from Grantville to North Topeka grew and sold a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Our farm is the only roadside market still standing and operating from the generations of yesteryear. In 1901, J. G. and Nora Rees opened their family barn to sell the fruits they and their children produced on the family farm. The family home was located just a mile north and approximately 1/2 mile to the east of our current location. The fruits raised by the family at that time were: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, apples, peaches, pears and cherries. They also produced apple cider. The family properties stretched from the current 31st street area south to just north of our farm now. Norris and Lucille owned and operated a grocery in North Topeka, later purchasing the grocery in Meriden. In 1950, Norris and Lucille purchased the current 80 acrea block of property that the majority of our farm sits on today. They built their home on the hill, planted apples, peaches, grapes, cherries, and strawberries on the land to the south and east, then built a packing shed on the southwest corner of the property. The two farms seemed to merge becoming one to be taken care of by all who were still involved in the family farm, now selling the produce and cider from the new location. After the death of J.G. in 1952, the original family property had been sectioned off and sold. Norris obtained a portion of the original family orchard, as well as the original family homestead property, which is now called the north orchard The old shacks can still be seen over the hill off of K-4 Hwy just past 27th street. The original homestead was located on the property to the east of the north orchard, now only home to a few trees surrounding the little hill where the cave is. This property is currently used for brome production. Norris eventually sold his groceries and followed his fruit farming desires, becoming very successful in fruit farming, diversifying the crops and providing more variety to his consumers. The current Rees farm is owned and operated by Rex and his family ( 3rd generation of fruit farmers, 4th generation of family in the Grantville area ) on approximately 117 acres of land. 80 acres are in fruit and vegetable production, while the other 37 acres are used for personal home and farm use. Of the 80 acres, 75% of that is in apple production, growing 30 varieties, harvesting summer apples as early as July and finishing harvest in early November. Many other crops are grown and harvested in our market from early April thru the first part of November. For a list of these crops, see What We grow. Today our farm operates much the way it did over 100 years ago. During the 1950's, the highwy department constructed 24 Highway, taking out the strawberry fields and reforming a low area into a creek to drain into the Kansas River for flood control. This separated the orchard from the market area, so a bridge across the creek was needed. Norris purchased a bridge from the highway department, which they installed. At the time, the bridge was about 100 years old, assuming the bridge today would be more than 150 years old. The bridge has been very sturdy allowing many trucks, tractors and various equipment access to the orchard through the years. The current cider mill was believed to have been purchased in the early 1960's from Michigan Orchard Supply. The rack and cloth press was the most productive in it's day and still operates efficiently for us now. Each bushel of apples pressed will produce approximately 3-4 gallons of cider. The cider room was built after the cider press was installed, therefore it leaves no room for expansion. The 2 tanks holding cider are refrigerated stainless and hold a total of 1, 500 gallons of cider. Upon trying to locate information about our history, an invoice for the popcorn machine was found. It was p