The River Ridge Farm Plot Map

Facts about River Ridge Farm:

• The heart of River Ridge Farm was originally the 760 acre Argeon Farm. It was purchased for $1.00 and other considerations by Sibley on Nov. 15, 1911. The original owner was Robert G. Lamberton.
• When the land was purchased, there were two red brick homes and a four story stone barn on the property.
• Sibley purchased additional acreage from nearby farms increasing the original size of the farm to 1,200 acres. Ed. note: I do not understand the discrepancy between this information and the acreage noted on the plot map.
• A 13 mile network of roads was constructed on the farm.
• There are six stone bridges.

One of aprox. 8,000 fence posts surrounding River Ridge Farm. Mark Moore, owner of the Franklin Gate House, is seen in the image./W. Passauer

• The farm was surrounded by approximately 8,000 stone and concrete fence posts, as seen in the above image. They were eight to fourteen feet in height and had up to 20 foot hedges between them consisting of 95 varieties of flowering shrubs and other plants.
• The mansion and 22 other out buildings are on the farm.
• The farm was self contained as it grew its own food and meat, generated it own electricity independent from outside sources, and even had its own water supply and sewage system. It had a blacksmith and machine shop, an auto repair facility, two greenhouses, a company store, a 12 car garage, and its own railway station. It had an underground sprinkler system and an irrigation system.
• 400 acres of land were under cultivation.
• There were four 50 yard duck ponds and a 75 yard lake. There was a Roman style fountain in the center of one of the larger ponds. The fountain was of a young boy and girl both holding urns from which water rose to a height of 35 feet.
• The farm had an assortment of livestock and wild animals consisting of Wapiti Elk, American Buffalo, horses, sheep, Angora goats and Poland China hogs. Peking ducks, white swans, Canadian geese, wood ducks and wild mallards also were in abundance.
• Farmers were invited three times a year to a “Farmers Day” where tours of the latest farming methods were shown. On September 1915, 1,000 people showed up to tour River Ridge. Only several hundred were actually farmers.
• There was an annual ice skating and sled riding outing for anyone living in the area on Dec. 23rd. A special train ran from Franklin and Oil City for the event.
• President Woodrow Wilson visited the farm for a week in Sept. 1917. President Wilson was resting from the aguish of World War I. President Wilson was also accompanied by William Jennings Bryan. While there, Wilson and Bryan drafted a peace making effort entitled, “The 14 Points”. It was presented in Paris in January 1918 and contained the logic that secured the peace at the end of WWI.