Bicentennial Farm Profile – Cromley Farm  

Curtis W. "Doc" Cromley feeds his horse. Circa 1990s

The farm today. Today, the farm is cash rented to neighbors who grow corn, soybeans, and hay on this 200-acre farm near the Ohio canal. Some of the original land is now part of the city of Ashville. Ninety-one-year-old Curtis still has about 10 Standardbred horses that harness race at tracks across the state. When he’s not vacationing in Florida, Curtis still feeds the horses himself.  

The farm in 1803. William Cromley rode a horse to Chillicothe about 1803 and bought 1,500 acres near Ashville to raise crops. He acquired more land around 1837, and in the 1870s, he gave the Norfolk & Western Railroad access through his land. Grain from the farm was moved on the Ohio canal to the railroad for transport. Originally, corn, wheat, and hay, hogs, cattle, horses, and sheep were raised on the farm.  

Notable ancestors and accomplishments. Thaddeus E. Cromley served on the Ohio Board of Agriculture before spending 12 years in the state legislature, where he served as Senate president. While he served on the board of agriculture, much of Ohio’s groundbreaking research on hog cholera was conducted on his Ashville farm.  

“Quotable quote.” “One of the things we have always wanted is to keep (the farm) in the family, and the trust we have set up will help it to stay that way.” – Curtis “Doc” Cromley on his family’s 200-year-old farm.