History



Historical Image of Farm House
GeerCrest's known history starts with the Native Americans who camped on the land and is traced through 1847 when Ralph and Mary Geer arrived in the Willamette Valley. They established their homestead on 640 acres in the spring of 1848. Theirs was the second land claim awarded in Oregon. The house was finished in 1851. The farm became an important nursery during the establishment of the fruit industry in the Willamette Valley. Some heritage trees from that time remain.

The farm was home to LB Geer, state commissioner of lands in 1900; Pearl Geer, former president of the Oregon State Secular Union, co-founder of the Liberal University and later a nationally recognized actor of stage and film; Theodore Thurston Geer, first native born governor of Oregon; Musa Geer, first woman to climb Mt. Jefferson and among a small group of female American entrepreneurs.

Homer Davenport, who became a well-known political cartoonist for the Hearst papers, spent much of his early youth on the farm, then home to his maternal Grandparents. His autobiography, "The Country Boy," recounts several of his visits to the farm from the Davenport family home in Silverton. Homer also was responsible for the first direct importation of Bedouin horses to the United States and wrote the best seller, "My Quest of the Arabian Horse."

His final dream was literally spelled out on the Western porch wall, where in 1904 he drew in pencil, one of the few remaining pieces of Davenport "walk art." It features his personal thoughts regarding GeerCrest as well as a self-portrait. Prior to his untimely death, plans were well under way to purchase the farm and establish an Arabian Horse Ranch in the Waldo Hills. Our hopes are to help full fill the spirit of that dream, as part of our mission.

Embracing Our Heritage


These were people who, by pursuing their dreams helped shape our nation. They pioneered the nursery industry, short horn cattle, hops, flax and merino sheep in the Willamette Valley. Ralph Geer helped bring the first railroad into the valley and meetings were held in the Geer farmhouse that brought about the formation of the Oregon Republican Party in the 1850's, the party that stood against slavery. The Willard Women's Club met for the first time in the kitchen of the farm house in 1913 – and continued to use it as one of its gathering places until 2008.

Today, with two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and an Oregon Heritage Tree on the site, GeerCrest Farm has passed to the fifth generation, Jim and Erika Toler. As the probable last generation of family stewards of GeerCrest, they are focused on preserving this cultural resource for future generations. They wish to preserve and pass on something else. In our rush to embrace a better future, we have lost something of our past, and that is, our connectedness to the land, the soil, the
source of our food and a lifestyle we call agrarian culture.
     
     
   
     
2010 • GeerCrest Farm & Historical Society
Early 20th Century image of the farm house resourced from
Homer Davenport: The Country Boy by Mickey Hickman.