The Robert William Andrew Feller Farmstead is a federally designated historic site a couple miles northeast of Van Meter in

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. It is the boyhood home of

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pitcher

Bob Feller Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Clevel ...

. The historic district is . The Feller family farm was once but most of it has been sold to other farmers and the current farm is . Feller sold the farmstead in 1955 and it is currently owned by Dr. Jose Angel since about 1994.

Background

The farmstead was first purchased by the Feller family on January 5, 1866, by Feller's grandparents, Andrew and Elizabeth Feller. Andrew had immigrated from Germany and Elizabeth from Switzerland. Feller was born on the farm in November 1918. Feller learned to pitch here on the farmstead from his father William Andrew Feller, known as Bill. When Feller was 8 years old, he threw a baseball so hard it broke three of his father's ribs. In 1932 his father, Bill, built a ballfield one-quarter mile east of the farmhouse; complete with some bleachers and a concession stand. This ballfield has been called the "original Field of Dreams". This ballfield and its homefield baseball team were named Oakview because of all the oak trees in the area. Oakview is no longer part of the farm and has been plowed under and overgrown. Bill Feller even switched his corn fields to wheat because the earlier harvest of wheat allowed his son more time to play baseball. Feller's Major League debut season was 1936, as a 17-year-old, with the

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. The ''

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'' soon said his name was "on the tongues of a million fans". He then appeared on the cover of ''

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'' on April 13, 1937. Feller once stated that if he could relive any moment of his life it would be "Playing catch with my dad between the red barn and the house." The

Raccoon River The Raccoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 26, 2011 tributary of the Des Moines River in central Iowa in the United States. As measured using the longes ...

is about one mile south of the property.

Red barn

The farmstead's red barn was built in 1886 by Andrew Feller, Bob's grandfather, and still stands as of 2020. Feller's proclivity for baseball was first noticed at age five. The place where Bill Feller taught his son Bob to pitch is southwest of the barn and between the barn and house. The pitching rubber is no longer present but the terrain is unaltered and it remains part of the farmstead. During the winter they would practice inside the barn. The barn had wood shingles and

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siding with a heavy timber frame with pegged joints.

House

The original house was replaced by a brick home that Feller had built during 1939–1940 for his parents, William Andrew and Lena C. Feller, and sister, Marguerite E. Feller Goodson. The architect of the house was John Normile of

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. Normile primarily used the

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style for the house. Feller paid the then-large sum of $75,000 for the house and it has only had slight modifications since its 1940 completion, except for a breakfast nook and an addition on either side. There are five bedrooms and four bathrooms. Fellers parents lived there until they died, Bill in 1943 of brain cancer and Lena of lung cancer in 1954. There is also a

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on the property that was built in the early 20th century with wooden sides and a metal roof. The new house was built northwest of the old house, which was moved to another site in the region.

Farmstead ownership history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feller Farmstead Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Tudor Revival architecture in Iowa Houses completed in 1940 Buildings and structures in Dallas County, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Dallas County, Iowa Historic districts in Dallas County, Iowa Buildings and structures completed in 1886

Background

Red barn

House

Farmstead ownership history

See also

References