Let’s head back to 1893 when a Delta farm was recognized at the Chicago World’s Fair.
An award had been given to Ladner’s Jubilee Farm for an exhibit of “Black Tartarian Oats”.
Information on the award states that "the oats were sown April 2 on clay soil, using 100 pounds of seed per acre; harvested September 12. Yield, 50 Bushels per acre. Weight, 38 pounds per bushel".
Thomas and Annie McNeely owned and ran Jubilee Farm.
Originally from Ontario, Thomas McNeely had several business and large land holdings in the community, as well as throughout the Lower Mainland.
He had several saw mills, farms and stores in the region, including a hotel which had a hall in Ladner Village.
McNeely helped establish the Ladner town site with William Ladner and Donald Chisholm, and is considered Ladner’s first merchant.
The successful businessman passed away in the beginning of the 1900s at the age of 63.
His wife Annie passed away in 1929.
The Thomas and Annie McNeely home on the 129-acre Jubilee Farm estate on Arthur Drive (formerly Slough Road) is still there today.
It was bequeathed to the Catholic Church in 1929 and became known as Monastery Farm.
It would be become St. Augustine’s Mission.
