The Brown County Historical Society in New Ulm displays photographs of “Century Farms,” each successfully cultivated by a single family for a hundred years or more. By and large, such prosperous farms sprang from the loins of large immigrant families with many sons. Socialism also helped: many century farms improved their chances through cooperative ventures—creameries, grain elevators, and warehouses—in open acknowledgment of the fact that farmers simply could not go it alone.
