Bender family celebrates hundred years of farming

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

In an era of declining numbers of farm and ranch families, Ralph Bender counts his blessings that his family still has the farmland purchased by his grandfather, Henry Bender, in 1904.

Henry and Anna Gettman Bender had left Russia in 1888 and immigrated to Nebraska. From there, they came to Colorado and became one of the founding families of the Wellington area.

Their farm, located 3 miles north of Wellington on County Road 7, last year received the Centennial Farm designation from the Colorado Historical Society, the Colorado Department of Agriculture and Colorado State Fair. A celebration, however, waited until this September, the same month Wellington celebrated its centennial year.

The farm also received the Historic Structures award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation because at least five buildings are 50 or more years old. The Benders live in the farmhouse built in 1905. A windmill constructed in 1908 is repaired and used to irrigate windbreaks. The 1920s barn is used as a shop and storage building. The early 1930s chicken coop is a work area.

Gone are the maze of corral fences, the scrap metal pile, the octagonal brooder house, the original wood outhouse, the implement rows and the tractor shed. All scrap wood is neatly stacked for future use.

Ralph Bender is particularly proud of his late mother, Natalie, who kept the farm together after his father, Henry Jr., died in 1940 when young Ralph was not quite 1 year old.

While running the farm with the help of her brother, Gene Ahlbrandt, Natalie Bender emphasized education for her children. Both Ralph and his older sister, Virginia Bender Cleveland, graduated from Wellington High School and the University of Colorado.

After Natalie's death in 1978, the ownership of the farm passed to Ralph and Mary Bender, who were living in Mississippi at the time. Uncle Gene, who never married, continued living on the farm. He died in 1997.

Opportunities to work at the University of Wyoming brought Ralph and Mary back to the area in 1993, and they were able to renew their connections with the family farm on weekends.

Early crops on the farm included various grains, alfalfa and sugar beets. Over the years, crops such as corn, barley and pinto beans were added. The farm had a small dairy in the '40s and early '50s, but ranching and animals were phased out in the '60s.

According to Ralph, the land is farmed through a share arrangement with a neighbor farmer who excels in and understands small-acreage farming. The Benders' daughters are partners in the farm operation, which was incorporated in 1999. Ralph spends his time refurbishing the old farm buildings and organizing a century of accumulated items.

In a booklet of family letters written for the Wellington Centennial, the Benders wrote:

"Some of the other historical aspects of the farm are quite interesting. The utilities that we take for granted were not always present in rural homes. There was great joy in the early 1940s when the REA extended lines to the farm to provide electricity. The Northern Colorado Water Association brought household water to the farm to end reliance on wells and cisterns. Natural gas was piped in in the early 1980s to make the old propane tank unnecessary. And happiness was a private phone line! Natalie acquired this in the early 1970s. Sharing the line with up to eight other parties had meant that privacy did not exist, and gabby neighbors prevented you from making calls when you wanted to."

Farming will always have its uncertainties, but family tradition is sure to continue at the Bender family farm.