This postcard from 1935 shows the Charles Hall Residence on Main Street in East Dixfield on the town of Wilton side of the street.

This postcard from 1935 shows the Charles Hall Residence on Main Street in East Dixfield on the town of Wilton side of the street.

Late 1600s – Two Hall brothers sail to America from England.

1709 – Preserved Hall, an ancestor of Rod and Randy Hall who was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and his wife, Lydia, give a certificate of good character to a woman accused of being a witch.

1767 – Allen Hall is born in Wrentham, Massachusetts. He later becomes one of the first settlers of Winthrop, Maine.

1816 – Allen Hall moves from Winthrop to East Dixfield and buys 70 acres of land to farm.

1869 – Original barn built.

1870 or 1871 – Original farmhouse jacked up and moved down the road with horses and oxen. A family still lives in the structure today.

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1871 – New farmhouse built.

1880s – Local dairy farms, including Hall Farms, sell their milk to the Dixfield Centre Cheese Factory.

1915 – Hall family sells land to the village for a new two-room schoolhouse after the old one burns down.

1917 – Another house built on the farm as a wedding present for Ralph Hall, Rod and Randy Hall’s great-great grandfather. It costs $700. Rod Hall and his family live there today. His brother Randy lives down the road on 40 acres.

1936 – Hall Farms, for the first time, buys a tractor, a used one, beginning the transition from horses and oxen to mechanization.

1945 – The farm becomes home to registered Holsteins.

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1946 – For the first time, Hall Farms invests in a new tractor.

1950s – Ralph Hall trades a cow for a piece of land in South Carthage, continuing to expand the farm.

Mid-1960s – The two-room schoolhouse closes. Ralph Hall buys back the land because it has a good well on it. Today, the building is used for storage and for an annual Maine Maple Sunday pancake breakfast.

1973 – Ralph Hall, Rod and Randy Hall’s great-grandfather, dies.

2000 – Dick Hall begins the process of transitioning the farm to his sons, Rod and Randy.

2002 – Hall Farms goes organic.

2006 – The transition of ownership is complete. Dick Hall retains just enough shares to make him a tie-breaking vote in decision-making, should it be needed.

2013 – Hall brothers build a compost barn.

2016 – Hall Farms celebrates its 200th birthday and wins the Maine Dairy Farm of the Year award.


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