Danforth Stock Farm

The Danforth Stock Farm (originally the Melbourne Stock Farm) was an enormous enterprise that raised horses and other types of livestock in the Foster Road area of Washington Township.

In early 1879, Leicester (L.S.) Rupert, a nephew of Caroline Rupert Danforth, Asa Danforth’s wife, arrived in the area from Louisville, Kentucky.  He purchased a farm near Lowpoint, Illinois, for the purpose of breeding trotting horses, bringing some knowledgeable men with him from Kentucky to get the enterprise off the ground.  In September of that year, he entered one of his first horse shows, the LaSalle County Fair, with two of his prize horses.  Melbourne King won first place in the two-year-old category.  He also entered a horse in the trot named Fairy Gift.

In October 1879, it was announced that L.S. Rupert was set to marry his cousin Catherine Danforth, daughter of Asa & Caroline Danforth, on November 5, 1879.  Upon marrying Catherine, Rupert joined Robert Bush, who was also from Kentucky and already residing in Washington as a horse trainer under the name of the Melbourne Stock Farm.

In June 1881, Almon G. Danforth purchased the farm and horses as a hobby. Rupert & Bush relocated to Bloomington to take up the same trade independently. In reorganizing the structure of the Melbourne Stock Farm, Danforth made “Fairy Gift” the head of his stud farm, which led to a string of prize-winning horses.

The early location of the Melbourne Stock Farm was west of the city, in the area that is now south of Newcastle Road and west of Wilmor Road, the current location of Five Points Washington and the Supportive Living Center. Danforth hired George Bayler upon purchasing the farm and sent him abroad to find and import the best horses for breeding.

In the 1890s, A.G. Danforth moved the farm from the Wilmor Road location to a larger swath of property south of town.  Here, the farm expanded to include sheep, goats, and cattle, and it is surmised that the legendary hangout Goat Springs got its name as a watering hole for the goats on the property.  At one time, the farm was home to at least 1,000 Angora goats, who were brought in primarily to eat the brush and keep the pasture clear.  Goat Springs is on the north end of the Danforth Stock Farm property, where Farm Creek passes under the railroad tracks.

In the early 1900s, the name was changed from Melbourne to the Danforth Stock Farm and hosted some of the most famous stallions in the country to mate with their mares, including John A. McKerron, the fastest trotting stallion in America, Ed Custer, called “the most popular sire in the state,” and Jay McGregor, the largest money-winning stallion of 1903.

In 1911 A.G. Danforth scaled down the business considerably and took advantage of some of the 1,200-acre property for its agricultural value.

By the 1920s, A.G. Danforth was looking to slow down even more and sold the Stock Farm in 1925 to Edwin Gould of Kearney, Nebraska, who ran the Midway Stock Farm there. The Gould sale was a disaster.  In 1928, Gould was involved in lawsuits for financial misrepresentation. Edwin Gould died in December 1928.

The farm was put up for sale again, and in 1929, it was purchased by Wilmer Foster of Peoria, who ran the Foster Dairy Products Company. Wilmer was the grandfather of longtime Washington residents John, Bill, and Fred Foster, and this Foster family is the namesake of Foster Road in the area.

The land stayed with the Foster family until it was sold off piece by piece, starting with the Pine Tree subdivision in the 1970s.