Jacob Meyers, the son of one of Lisbon’s earliest settlers, bought this farmstead which sits on the town’s outskirts in 1881. His son, John, eventually took over the farming operations until retiring in 1940. The Meyers family raised hogs, cattle, and dairy cows as well as crops. After 1940, the Meyers family retained ownership but rented the farmstead and it continued to be operated as a farm. They sold the farmstead in the early 1980s with the new owners also utilizing it for agricultural purposes. The City of Lisbon purchased the property in 2018 with the intention of developing the farmstead into a park. Pleasant Grove Heritage Park Inc. purchased the farmstead from the city in order to continue to pursue the creation of an agricultural park and historic district. The farmstead was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Several agricultural structures remain on the farmstead dominated by the gabled or banked barn(c.1872) which originally housed hay, machinery, and livestock. The Pennsylvania type barn illustrates the “Pennsylvania Dutch” and German heritage of the early settlers of Lisbon. In the early 1900s, the basement was remodeled to include a modern dairy the equipment of which remains. At that time, the silo next to the barn was also added. The dairy operated until the late 1960s. The site also boasts an uncommon combination corn crib(above) and hog house(underneath) likely built in the 1890s. Both the barn and crib/hog house were damaged by a 1908 tornado and repaired, but they retain their original framing, foundations, and most of their original siding. A hay/feeder barn on the property was constructed from materials salvaged from a barn destroyed in the 1908 tornado.
The farmstead is currently part of the Pleasant Grove Heritage Park. All of the structures have significant deterioration and need substantial stabilization, repair, and restoration in order to make them safe and accessible for visitors. While some funding has been received and some work has begun on the structures, there is an urgency for completion of the work. Unless the structures are restored within the City’s timeline, the property will be declared a nuisance and the buildings will have to be demolished. If this occurs, the community would lose this valuable piece of Lisbon’s agricultural history.
