Farm Focus
The Marsh Foundation School Farms has hosted Farm Focus since 1994,
first as a two-day show, and now with on-going research on the
300-acre site. The 1,291 acre home farm is located at the northeast
corner of the City of Van Wert. 
George H. Marsh, born in Connecticut on December 23, 1833, was founder of The Marsh Foundation and came to Van Wert County in 1845 as a 12-year-old boy. The next 17 years of his life was a mixture of living in the county and traveling the rivers in the Midwest, attending Ohio University, working in railroad yards at Crestline, Ohio and as a businessman in Van Wert.
On November 26, 1862 he married Hilinda Vance and built a home in 1864 on the southwest corner of the present Marsh Foundation Campus where he resided until his death on August 13, 1920. The home presently serves as a museum in their honor.
The Eagle Stave Barrel Factory was across the street from his home and Marsh started as a clerk at $1,000 per year in 1872. Over the next 29 years he became sole owner of Eagle Stave and four other barrel factories in Belmore, Latty, Scott and Geneva, Indiana. At one time in this period, Marsh was considered the largest barrel stave manufacturer in the United States.
Marsh invested his profits in bank stocks, industry Sears Roebuck, land and was once president of the Lima Locomotive Works.
The Marsh's gifts to Van Wert included a new hospital and nurse's home, the establishment of Third Ward Park on West Main Street, a sidewalk in Woodland Cemetery and the YWCA. The crowning gift of all was The Marsh Foundation, created in his last will and testament on the Marsh's wedding anniversary nine months after his death.
The Marsh Foundation has continued every since as a home for children, as thousands have benefited from his philanthropy.
To contact us:
Farm Focus
1055 South Washington Street, Van Wert, Ohio 45891
Telephone: 419 238-1214 FAX: 419 238-3276
For General Information contact:
prill.1@osu.edu
Webmaster:
webmaster@farmfocusshow.com
OSU Extension embraces human diversity and is committed to ensuring that all educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, age, gender identity or expression, disability, religion, sexual orientation, national origin or veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Director, OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 6145-292-1868.