Harris Family / Maple Grove Farm

The Harris farm was established by James Henry (Harry) Harris in 1888, after he came from Ontario drawn by the offer of free land in the Last Best West. He went back to Ontario to marry Elizabeth Bass in the spring of 1889, after which they immediately returned to build a log cabin. By August of that year they were permanent residents, and the farm has been in the Harris family ever since. They had 11 children, and Jim, the sixth-born, took over the farm in 1926. He built the first barns and in the 1940 renamed it Maple Grove Farm, a name prominently displayed on the roof of the barn.

 

From 1930 to 1970 the farm was used for crop testing and experiments by the federal agriculture department. In late 1956 the new owners of the farm were Jim's son Gordon and his wife Sheila (Linfoot). They operated it until 1990, when their oldest son Garry and his wife Lee (Kozachenko) and their four children moved into the house, which at that time was just over 100 years old.