CHURCH & GRANARY
From Fields to Fellowship
Agriculture has long shaped life in Amity and the surrounding Willamette Valley, alongside community institutions such as the Amity Baptist Church, originally built on 6th Street in 1862.
From the Meeker Seed and Grain Mill, built in 1910, to the region’s thriving hop farms and grain fields, agriculture provided livelihoods and a strong connection to the land. Seasonal workers, including members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, played an important role in harvesting crops, while mills and grain elevators supported surrounding farms.
Together, the historic church, agricultural buildings, and images of the people who worked the land offer a glimpse into the community and industries that helped shape Amity.
* The Amity Baptist Church seen here on 6th Street was originally built in 1862. In the lates 2010s, the church underwent extensive renovations.
SNAPSHOT IN TIME
Photos from the past
A threshing crew works on what is thought to be the Versteeg farm.
Workers move bags of barley as the grain pours from the elevator in 1952.
Around 1910, the Willamette Valley was known as the ‘hop capital of the world’ as farmers grew over 20,000 acres of the crop. After Prohibition ended, thousands of seasonal laborers harvested the hop crops. Here, Dorothy and Olgo Brutke of Amity pick hops on Fred Viesko’s farm near Gervais. They made about $11 per day.
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde members worked seasonally in the hop yard in the early to mid-1900s. This group harvested sometime in the 1930s or ‘40s.
VOICES OF AMITY
Stories in Their Own Words
Tony Meeker
Meeker Seed & Grain Co.
The Burlingham Meeker Co. was founded by Tony Meeker’s father in 1937 and operated along the railroad tracks in Amity, stretching from between 4th and 5th Streets to north of 6th Street.
Tony worked at the facility during his high school and college years before joining management in 1966, when the company became Meeker Seed & Grain Co. The business was sold in 1992, and the portion of the historic facility between 5th and 6th Streets was demolished in 1994.
*The Meeker family built the Meeker Seed and Grain Mill in 1910. The building was dismantled in 2002, and the old growth timbers were recycled into new construction.
INTERACTIVE MAP
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