Restored Apiary Joins National Registry

Restored Apiary Joins National Registry BUILDINGS Miscellaneous Restored buildings on the 150-year-old Hofmann Apiary Farm near Janesville Minn are now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places “It’s an incredible honor ” says Larry Hofmann who along with his wife Jan now lives in the farmhouse where he and his siblings grew up adjacent to the restored honey house and wax shed “The buildings were an integral part of the apiary founded by my grandfather Emil in 1903 and operated by my father Charlie until 1985 ” Hofmann says “Then they sat empty for many years and were slowly decaying ” The impetus to repair them began in 2010 when Joan Mooney Co-Director of the Waseca County Historical Society was at the farm’s 2010 estate sale She toured the honey house with Larry and said “This building has to be saved ” Mooney acquired grant funds for evaluation and nomination documents so the buildings could be nominated to the National Registry Mooney says the listing application was significant because of how the buildings were originally designed and how the business was operated The listing granted includes the farmhouse a reservoir a pump house a wax shed a winter bee cellar and the honey house Larry says he was told it was a unanimous 13-0 vote which is extremely rare for a nomination Jay Schmidt a barn repair specialist did the honey house and wax shed restoration He followed the architectural plans and documented all his work per Registry requirements It involved repairing and restoring the chimneys replacing windows repairing deteriorated wood caulking joints in the sills priming and painting the sashes replacing the roof and repairing the foundation and stucco The exterior was primed and received two coats of paint Larry Hofmann says the work was done over 4 years and completed in December 2023 Larry’s grandfather and Charlie’s father Emil started the bee business in 1903 literally by accident At the time Emil was raising livestock and farming One day Emil noticed a large swarm of bees on a bush near the house He set up a makeshift hive and the bees crawled in Within 4 years Emil became a full-time beekeeper and the rest is history The Hofmann Apiaries ran continuously for more than 80 years Larry Hofmann says the recently restored honey house was built in 1924 to serve as a new and modern facility The two-story honey house was added to the old hog barn that Emil had converted into his first honey house The new honey house was modern and efficient and was the focus of an article in a 1925 issue of the American Bee Journal The writer called it one of the most extensive and perfectly arranged facilities he’d ever seen among the hundreds he’d visited A later article in the same publication mentioned a 1928 beekeepers’ meeting at the Hofmann Apiary calling Emil one of the best most successful and extensive beekeepers in the U S Hofmann’s bees thrived on the large and fragrant blooms of alsike clover which he grew on his farm beginning in 1906 He interested other farmers in the crop and even provided custom seed hulling services The Janesville area became one of the largest hulling centers for alsike clover in the U S The honey house contributed significantly to the apiary’s success by allowing efficient extraction and packaging In 1929 Emil shipped 50 000 lbs of honey to a Minneapolis warehouse only to see prices plummet during the stock market crash His farm went bankrupt and the following 4 years were chaotic because of drought wind dust hail and large secondary mortgages on his farm Emil died in 1934 and his son Charlie at age 26 took over and eventually paid off all his father’s debts He ran the business until 1985 and sold it to a new owner who kept bees there for another 10 years Larry Hofmann says that while preserving the honey house and wax shed is important to the family’s beekeeping heritage an added benefit is that when students and others visit they can experience appreciate and understand the value of beekeeping to our society Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Hofmann Apiaries 4661 420th Ave Janesville Minn 56048 hofmannapiaries org

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