Tracing HHS’ farming heritage
By Karen Donato
Staff Writer
For anyone that attended Houlton High School, the Bird Farm was a common reference to the property surrounding the school. It was the fields where the potatoes were grown and where students participating in the Agricultural program practiced their farming skills. It was something we just took for granted.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photograph/Karen Donato
LOOK DOWN — Seventh-grade students just learned from their “Our Town” project to look up when they are in Market Square to see the architecture, but when walking on Pleasant Street, they need to look down to see the property marker with J.B., 1884 engraved in stone. These initials represent John Bird who originally owned the land where Houlton High School is today and the many homes along Pleasant Street.
I don’t remember ever wondering who the Birds were? Why was it called the Bird Farm and why did the high school use the property? I wonder of the thousands of students that have attended the school, how many would know more than the name.
In early 2000 Debbie Melvin of Monticello, a teacher at Houlton Elementary School researched the history of the farm for a project through the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District. The project was funded through the USDA/NRCS/FSA EQIP education program. Her research is included in a booklet entitled “The Bird Farm”. The following information comes from Melvin’s research.
The earliest records show that the Houltons owned the land and in the late 1850s the land was passed from Houlton to Houlton. This is the family that our town is named for. In 1871 the deed was transferred from Samuel Houlton to John W. Bird. He was the son of Francis Bird, who owned and operated a farm in Hodgdon.
In 1927 John Bird sold the tract of land to A.E. Mooers for $1. During the Mooers’ ownership, lots along Pleasant Street were sold for homes. A.E. Mooers’ grandson, John Mooers, remembered as a young child going to the property to feed and water the horses that were kept in the barn. This is the same barn that was torn down in the late 1990s. There were no other buildings on the property. There was only a dirt road leading onto the farm. He remembered haying there and transporting the hay to their farm on the Ludlow Road. The other crop planted there was potatoes.
In 1943 Frank H. Totman acquired the land through descent, minus those lots sold to individuals for homes. Then in 1947 Mr. Totman, a member of the school board, sold the land containing 122 acres to the town of Houlton for $20,000.
In 1948 the town of Houlton conveyed the land to the town of Houlton School District for $1. School records show that a new building was constructed and opened as the new Houlton High School during the 1949-50 school year.
Before this land became available to the students of Houlton High School their agricultural program was much to be desired.
The organization of Future Farmers of America began in 1917 when the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Educational Act created vocational agriculture courses.
Leland Longstaff recalled during the years between 1925 and 1929 a shop was established in the original high school, located on School Street, and later called Lambert School. The students studied soils, crops, diseases, varieties, storage, packing and transportation. An arrangement was made to use the basement of the building next door, now the District Court House. It had a dirt floor and the students dug small out sections and learned to pour cement.
With no land at the school, students had to do their projects outside of school. Since students mostly came from farming families their projects included raising chickens, growing a few acres of potatoes, grain, etc.
Mr. Charles Woods became the agriculture teacher in 1929. Having no land he did whatever projects were available. Woods taught students how to incubate eggs; he took them to potato fields to weed and showed them how to detect diseases.
In 1950, after the acquisition of the Bird Farm, the agricultural program grew under the leadership of Mr. Woods. The students raised potatoes, had a garden, a greenhouse and tended a few apple trees. The green house was salvaged from the closing of the Houlton airbase. David Cowperthwaite of Littleton remembered going to the airport to dismantle the greenhouse and transporting it to the high school. The students reassembled it and raised money for a furnace and windows.
The students from that time believe the farm was self-sufficient. The students grew tomatoes in the winter and sold them to area stores. The school cafeteria bought many of the garden items. They also grew flowers. Most of the potatoes were grown for seed and a few sold right out of the field. They planted oats as the rotation crop. The money the students received for their crops went back into the program.
Fertilizer and farm equipment dealers generously donated to and supported this program. Students did much of the work in two period classes. Mr. Wood was the instructor from 1929 until 1962.
Other teachers were, Fredrick Boutilier, Wilmont Oliver and Treston Bubar. In 1959 Larry Tompkins was hired and John Small took Mr. Wood’s place after his retirement in 1962.
With the creation of the current school district that includes; Monticello, Littleton, Hammond Plantation and Houlton in 1963, the school and the land were transferred to MSAD 29 for $1, with the exception of the land that had been conveyed to the state of Maine for Armory purposes.
During the 1960s students did all hands on work. They cut seed by hand and picked rocks. They used a digger to harvest 15 to 20 acres of potatoes. The greenhouse was still used in the ‘60s to grow tomatoes, houseplants, and garden vegetables.
In shop, students learned about the equipment they used. They maintained and repaired the farm machinery. They painted, welded, did motor jobs “whatever needed to be done.”
In the early ‘70s the students continued to use the Bird Farm land much like the ‘60s. Glen Strange began teaching in 1975 and it was shortly after that when the Southern Aroostook Vocational Education II completed a new building and the program was moved to the current Region Two building.
Students from the ‘70s remembered the program as a “real life” experience. They worked about 20 acres of potatoes. Oats grew where the soccer field is today. The “Aggie” program or Future Farmers of America was still in existence and students competed in a variety of national competitions. Girls were also participating in the program by then. In 1976 Lynn Tompkins, Greg Schools and Duane Sennett competed at the state level. As a team they tied for fourth place in the dairy contest. Tompkins took high individual in dairy and first place in farm electrification.
In 1979 Greg Schools, Chris Fitzpatrick and Tom Matthews won the state in farm management and went on to compete at the national level in Kansas City.
From that point on the program began to diversify, but the Bird Farm continued to provide a learning environment for the students.
In 1984 the program received 1,000 pine trees from Northern Products Log Homes, Inc. Strange and the students planted some of these trees for a windbreak along the soccer field and near Derby Hill.
From 1989 through the 1990s the farm used a quarter acre of land as a cooperative garden for the district, S.A.V.E. and a local soup kitchen. Another four-acre field was planted with soil conservation mix for sod harvesting and the rest of the field was a tree plantation.
In 1994 Tompkins retired and Strange changed careers. The agricultural program was discontinued. The big barn was used for storage until the summer of 1997, when the school board became concerned about its liability. Local farmers and other interested persons looked into the possibility of moving the barn to another site and saving it for a museum. The structure was beyond moving safely and was torn down.
Since then students have participated in walks on the “Nature Trail” during junior and senior high school science classes. Documented studies by science teachers Robert Askren, Steve MacDonald and Herb Pottle from the ‘70s included tree identification, contour mapping, water collection and sampling, weather, animal tracks, biome comparisons, soil identification, and water shed mapping.
Studies added since the ‘90s include a stream study, emerging plants study, use of compasses, over story removal study. The English classes used the ”Outdoor Classroom” for creative writing during the ‘90s.
In 1992 the school district was awarded a five-year Beacon Initiative Grant for math and science in the amount of $569,000. This was a great asset to the district in upgrading and initiating new science and math projects. A considerable amount of money was allocated to upgrade the Exploratorium. The nature trail and nature walks were improved and expanded.
At the time of this Bird Farm account in 2000 there was a committee comprised of local farmers, teachers, representatives of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, and representatives of the Southern Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District overseeing the use and conservation of the Bird Farm. Francis and Michael Fitzpatrick, local farmers took care of maintaining the fields.
The Bird Farm name has remained for more than 100 years and most likely will be there for the next 100 years.
In next week’s issue of the Houlton Pioneer Times we will update you on how the Bird Farm is continuing to provide learning experiences for our local students.
