Where's Meriden

by Hiram Drache

Overview

This history of the Meriden Township took Hiram Drache over 50 years to complete. Not due to lack of passion or subject matter, but rather because he did not want to use the typical format where people write about their families. He wanted a detailed history with substance and a meaningful message. Drache had no idea where the story would end, but changing agriculture dictated a new era for rural society. For example, by the 1960s, instead of having a farm service center every eight miles to accommodate horse and wagon, thirty-five minutes (not miles) was suggested to be the ideal distance. The enduring symbol of the Meriden Township is a country side of fertile fields, which resulted in the township consistently being a top producer in the county. With the help of government programs, a core of progressive farmers in the township, and in all townships, inadvertently caused the decline of small town U.S.A. Farming became a commercial enterprise. Small towns filled a niche when they were needed and today they live on in nostalgia, in poetry, in stories about the good old days, and in paintings about the rustic past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780913163474
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/18/2013
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

After serving in the Air Force as a combat navigator on bombing missions in the European Theater of Operations of World War II, Hiram Drache earned degrees at Gustavus Adolphus College, the Unversity of Minnesota, and the University of North Dakota. During his college years he worked in the family truck line and other businesses and later taught high school. He married Ada Nelson in 1948 and in 1950 the couple purchased their first farm. They were involved in farming until 1981 when the home farm was sold and the others were leased out. He started his career at Concordia College in 1952 and in 1991 became Historian-in-Residence. He has written fifteen books and has contributed to eight others. He has also written more than fifty articles chiefly on contemporary agriculture and/or agricultural history. That writing lead to a speaking career with over 1,000 engagements in thirty-six states, the District of Columbia, six provinces in Canada, plus Australia, Germany and Norway.