“History of Trapp & Sons Celery Farm” – Presented by Ned W. Edwards
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“The History of Trapp & Sons Celery Farm”
Presented by Ned W. Edwards
Video Replay Link (Click Here): https://youtu.be/1-58SDO0DM8
Many do not realize that the Trapp and Sons Celery Farm in Beulah was the largest employer in Benzie County between 1930 and 1970, producing celery, cabbages, lettuce, radishes, and onions that were marketed and available in grocery stores from Petoskey to Manistee in Michigan and Escanaba to Milwaukee across the big lake.
The story of Martin Trapp and his sons who established this very successful industry was the focus of this Benzonia Academy Lecture, presented at Mills Community House in Benzonia on July 14, 2022 by a former employee and Trapp family member, Ned Wolfe Edwards.
This lecture features photos and news articles from the 1930’s, and beyond that tell of the 150 acre farm that was built on the Golden Rule and the advice of Henry Ford.
The Rev. Dr. Ned W. Edwards was born in 1934 in Kansas City, Missouri, and came to Crystal Lake for the first time in 1935, as the grandson of Austin Wolfe, who, along with his brother, Artur Wolfe had purchased 55 acres of forest and lake frontage on the North Shore of Crystal Lake in 1903. During his college summers, Ned was employed by Trapp and Sons Celery Gardens to deliver produce to all grocery stores in Petoskey, Charlevoix, Traverse City, Northport, Beulah, Frankfort, Manistee and points in between. In 1956 he married Barbara Trapp (Howard and Muriel Trapp’s oldest daughter) who accompanied him to Scotland to attend theological seminary in Edinburgh. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and his Ph.D. in Education from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After retirement in 1992 from a 30 year ministry in Cleveland Heights, OH, he and Barbara retired to the family cottage on Crystal Lake, but his retirement was short lived. In 1995, he became the founding pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church on Eden Hill in Beulah, from which he retired again in 2002, having completed their church building on Lincoln Road, overlooking Platte Lake and Lake Michigan. Ned has served on the Board of BACN, as president of Frankfort Rotary, president of Benzie Home Health Care and vice president of Benzie Senior Resources
Video Replay:
Watch this lecture on YouTube by clicking on the following link:
