09/19/2026
FAREWELL TO SAPPER'S FARM MARKET
This was the first summer in decades that the field on the curve of 10th Street and South Lake Park Avenue laid fallow. Who didn't enjoy watching the sweet corn grow and look forward to that first delicious bite?! "Knee high by the 4th of July"!
The buildings that comprised the Sapper compound and the farm market are awaiting demolition to clear the land for a housing development. The Hobart Fire Department has most recently been using the structures for burn training.
The market had humble beginnings almost five generations ago when German immigrant, Charles Sapper, relocated to Hobart from Chicago around 1906 and became a farmer.
He started placing produce under a big shade tree in his front yard to sell, attracting customers that drove by on the dusty unpaved road. At that time Highway 51, or South Lake Park Avenue, was known as Ainsworth Road and was a major road in and out of town, as it remains today.
Charles bought an old horse-drawn school bus and took to the road, selling produce door-to-door in Hobart and Gary. In those early days the farm also raised cattle, hogs, and chickens. In 1943, an open-air market was built to accommodate the produce, dairy products, fresh-dressed chickens, eggs, and grain.
If you are of a certain age, you will remember the twice daily cattle crossings that occurred when the cows from the Sapper barn crossed the road to graze in the woods and fields. The "Cattle Crossing" tent-shaped sign was put in the road, traffic stopped, the cattle crossed safely, and the traffic resumed its flow...twice a day, everyday.
The farm eventually passed to Charles' son, John E., and then to his son, John C., who in 1976 erected the large building on the property capable of carrying a year-round seasonal business. John's children and extended family continued to run the business until earlier this year when they retired.
We hope that the Sapper family and employees know that they are so appreciated and loved for their years of dedication and service to our community. They all will be missed. We wish them all a fond and tearful farewell!
In case you are wondering what the name of the subdivision is...most appropriately: "Sapper's Gardens".
