Land Parcel Map

The TODD FARM
on Town line of
GANGES and CLYDE TOWNSHIPS - 1913

Actually The CAMPANIA FARM

.....Mint farming was introduced into Allegan County by Judge Henry F. Severens who, by 1896, was reported to have "the largest peppermint field in the world," nearly a mile long on the Severens Marsh, reclaimed swamp land south of Fennville.

.....He had two stills located on his 1000- acre plus farm, and shipped more than 200 barrels of raw oil as early as 1892. Realizing the potential in the swampy land, Severens bought up large tracts on speculation. In August of 1895, A. M. todd became one of his best customers, purchasing more than a thousand acres of land (840 in Ganges Twp. and 320 in Clyde Twp.) near a tributary of the Black river, outlet of Hutchins Lake. Todd began the laborious process of ditching and draining his land in preparation for setting his first mint crop.

.....Todd was actually a chemist by trade, he began working with peppermint and the distilling of the oil in 1868. He devised a method of distilling oil that resulted in a purer end product and he and his brother established the Steam Refined Essential Oil Works at Nottawa in St. Joseph Co. near where he was born. In the summer of 1891 he moved his distilling works to Kalamazoo and began to develop extensive farms to grow the raw materials. The farm here in Allegan County he called Campania after the district in central Italy.

.....In draining the swampy land, one hardship was the infestation of rattle snakes, the largest being eight feet long and as large as a man's arm. This author can believe this because he himself had killed a rattle snake by a telephone pole he was working by in 1957 and it's babies ran into the parent snake, not too far from this location.

.....In the summer Todd hired hundreds of workers, area residents as well as many brought in from the unemployment offices of Chicago, and for a period during World War II, prisoner of war labor was utilized from Camp Lakewood near Allegan.

The firm still exists, click image above.

The TODD FARM on Town line of GANGES and CLYDE TOWNSHIPS - 1913 Actually The CAMPANIA FARM .....Mint farming was introduced into Allegan County by Judge Henry F. Severens who, by 1896, was reported to have "the largest peppermint field in the world," nearly a mile long on the Severens Marsh, reclaimed swamp land south of Fennville. .....He had two stills located on his 1000- acre plus farm, and shipped more than 200 barrels of raw oil as early as 1892. Realizing the potential in the swampy land, Severens bought up large tracts on speculation. In August of 1895, A. M. todd became one of his best customers, purchasing more than a thousand acres of land (840 in Ganges Twp. and 320 in Clyde Twp.) near a tributary of the Black river, outlet of Hutchins Lake. Todd began the laborious process of ditching and draining his land in preparation for setting his first mint crop. .....Todd was actually a chemist by trade, he began working with peppermint and the distilling of the oil in 1868. He devised a method of distilling oil that resulted in a purer end product and he and his brother established the Steam Refined Essential Oil Works at Nottawa in St. Joseph Co. near where he was born. In the summer of 1891 he moved his distilling works to Kalamazoo and began to develop extensive farms to grow the raw materials. The farm here in Allegan County he called Campania after the district in central Italy. .....In draining the swampy land, one hardship was the infestation of rattle snakes, the largest being eight feet long and as large as a man's arm. This author can believe this because he himself had killed a rattle snake by a telephone pole he was working by in 1957 and it's babies ran into the parent snake, not too far from this location. .....In the summer Todd hired hundreds of workers, area residents as well as many brought in from the unemployment offices of Chicago, and for a period during World War II, prisoner of war labor was utilized from Camp Lakewood near Allegan. The firm still exists, click image above.	Future site of WILDLIFE REFUGE .....Todd was called the "Peppermint King" and a 1902 article in the New York Sun claimed that Campania produced one-tenth of the world's supply of peppermint oil. It described the farm: "Campania farm contains 1,600 acres of highly fertile soil and it spreads out as flat as a duck pond, a lake of pungent waves of crinkly green leaves blanketed at nightfall with a thick vapor . . . The smart in the newcomer's eyes, as well as his nose, tells him that he is in the middle of the biggest peppermint field in the world." .....Crops had to be diversified with other crops such as broom corn and sugar beets when the land was overworked for mint. In 1924 Verticillium wilt was discovered and rapidly spread throughout western Michigan. By 1930 Todd began growing mint further west in Oregon, Washington and California. .
....Campania farm turned to truck farming, being major suppliers for the A & P stores and a series of green houses were installed. The farm had become a wildlife sanctuary before 1940 and in 1949 was a favorite stopping place for ducks and Canada geese. In November of 1949 the Herald reported: "Five thousand sightseers were attracted at the Todd farm sunday, the spectacle being 40,000 to 50,000 Canada geese at dinner.