Pioneer Farm to lose funding
Living museum preserves ag-based heritage

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Farm employee Charlie Boas (left) explains to the young visitors the various items found in the periodic kitchen -- which served as a gathering place for most families. -- Staff photos by Taylor

August 14, 2003 -- When Frederic and Harriet (Bachman) Jourdan settled their plantation, at the northward crossing of Walnut Creek in Travis County in 1854, little did they realize what an impact they would have on the future of the area and the preservation of agricultural heritage.

That impact is set to cease if the currently proposed City of Austin budget is approved.

After arriving on property which was, originally, settled by Texas Ranger Lt. James O. Rice in 1844, Frederic Jourdan and Harriet Emily Bachman Jourdan, along with their "large family and nine slaves," proceeded to amass property until they had a 2,000-acre estate.

Over 100 years later, the core of the property was donated to Austin in the Jourdans' honor and memory by their grandchildren. Today, the Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm, a living museum, has been in existence for 25 years.

The Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm is part of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, which maintains the outdoor, living history museum, along with the cooperation of the Heritage Society and the Friends of the Jourdan-Bachman Pioneer Farm, since it's establishment in 1975.

The mission of the farm has always been "to preserve and portray the agrarian lifestyle on the Blackland Prairie in 1880s Central Texas." Along with over 30 buildings that have been either brought to the property and restored, or built in the styles of the era, visitors ... both young and old ... are taken back to a time when agriculture was king, and there were various groups who were able to make a living from the land.

According to John Hirsch, manager of the farm, around 50,000 visitors annually make the short trip outside of Austin to visit the living museum and see how their ancestors might have lived during that era.

Kristin Rathburn (right) teaches a session on embroiderying. Many youth come to the farm through their school or for camp activities. -- Staff photos by Taylor

During the school year, Hirsch said the farm can handle up to 250 school children a day, and field trips are made by schools from Travis and surrounding counties to help "show," not "tell," the children about early Texas history.

There are three, major sites to visit at the farm: the Homestead, which, as a log house, represents the oldest of the sites, and would have housed an older "middle-class" couple; the Tenant farm, which offered housing for families of "modest means, dependent on the good will of a large land owner;" and the Commercial Cotton Farm, which was home to a younger family "of greater financial means."

At each location, visitors can find costumed interpreters who explain how things worked, during the 1880s, along with other buildings which housed the blacksmith shop, barns, root cellars, dairy cows and other

farm animals and cotton production.

Old photos, furnishings and farm equipment are on-site and are explained by the interpreters who have studied the histories of the areas for which they are responsible, as well as having a general knowledge of the entire farm.

During the summer months, craft workshops entice area children for hands-on opportunities in leather working, gardening, animal care, woodworking and even spinning and weaving, among others.

The farm offers itself for private events, such as hayrides, campfires, birthday parties, weddings and scouting programs, to name a few, and the public has made use of the facility, according to Hirsch. Income from the program fees go back into the city's Parks and Recreation budget.

To handle the farm's responsibilities, six full-time, and six temporary workers are employed.

Without this living museum, this type of "down to earth" history could have been lost to thousands of children, Hirsch explained.

Although plans had already been made for programs throughout the fall and holiday periods, the Jourdan Bachman Pioneer Farm is slated to lose 100 percent of the funding received from the City of Austin.

In a July 31 memo sent to the Austin mayor, mayor pro tem, and the city council members, by the city manager, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2003-2004 reduces the Parks and Recreation Department's budget by $3.5 million, including over $300,00 for the Pioneer Farm. The Pioneer Farm will be the only program completely cut from the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

The Pioneer Farm will remain open to visitors until the final Austin City budget is passed in early September. (For more information, call 512-837-1215.)