We often get asked how we chose the name "Arlington Acres" for our farm. To put it simply, the original owner of the property and the builder of the barn was named Arlington Dunn and we wanted to pay homage to him.
All About Arlington
Arlington Dunn was born in 1845 and was a native Tiffin-ite. At the age of 17 he enlisted in the 123rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served until the end of the Civil War in 1865.
When he came home to Tiffin after the war he worked as a bookkeeper at a local hardware store until around 1875. During that time, he purchased 80 acres of farmland just outside of Tiffin (now known as Arlington Acres) in 1869.
The foundations of the barn were first laid by Arlington in 1878. After the barn was built, it was used as housing for the building crew and farm hands as they built Arlington’s home on the property. The lumber used for the barn and home is all native timber (butternut, walnut, and cherry) from the farm.
During his lifetime, Arlington used the barn for livestock, grain and equipment storage until his death in 1926 when his daughter Clara inherited the property. While Clara lived on the property she rented the barns and land to the King Family who eventually purchased the 80 acre farm in the 1970’s.
When Duane King purchased the farm in the 1970’s the barn was used for raising cattle. The family transitioned to primarily grain farming in the 1990’s and for the next 20 years the barn was primarily used for storage and 4-H animals and fell into dis-repair.
In 2017, John and Sarah Bolte (grandchildren of Duane) moved onto the property and started a small pumpkin farm on the property in addition to the traditional corn, soybeans and wheat that are grown. In 2019 they began renovating the barn in order to re-purpose its beauty as a wedding venue.
Photo Credit: NB3 Photography
There is an archive on Arlington Dunn at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont, Ohio. Additionally a biographical record of Arlington can be found in “A Centennial Biographical History of Seneca County” from Lewis Publishing Company.
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