Hofmann Apiaries, Janesville MN,
Waseca County
By Ginny Way
Emil Hofmann never intended to become a leader in the beekeeping industry when he took over his family’s Janesville farm in 1900. In fact, according to family lore, it happened quite by accident. A detailed family history discusses a wild swarm of bees that alighted on a bush at the Hofmann farm near the turn of the twentieth century. This piqued Emils interest and, by 1907, he began experimenting with keeping bees. In 1908, Emil decided to divest from hog farming, which he had begun in earnest less than a decade before, in order to devote his time and resources to beekeeping, often selling his honey through local markets instead of taking chances shipping the honey to market centers. That same year he converted the farm’s hog barn into a honey house.
The initial conversion was limited, but as the business grew the honey house was expanded. By 1923, it had become the jewel of the apiary. The building included a central freight elevator, a steam-heated warming room, ample storage space, and an extraction room with six honey tanks that provided total storage capacity of 2,100 gallons (25,200 pounds) of honey.
An ongoing challenge, however, was Minnesota’s harsh climate and trying to compete with apiaries in warmer environs. In addition to late-blooming flowers, Hofmann also had to contend with extensive loss of bees each winter, when colonies remained in the hive yards. Instead of undertaking the costly effort to drive the hives to warmer climates for the winter, in 1921 Hofmann constructed a winter bee cellar. This elaborate structure was dug deep into an embankment and constructed of fieldstone and cement tile. The ceiling rafters were packed with clover chaff or hay, keeping space between 50 and 55 degrees throughout the winter. Through the decades, Hofmann and his apiaries became known nationally, leading an American Bee Journal writer to claim in 1928 that the enterprise was “one of the most extensive and perfectly arranged that I have ever seen.”
With its rapid growth, Hofmann Apiaries boasted 1,000 colonies by 1930. That same year, the apiary produced nearly 200,000 pounds of honey. In 1934, Emil died unexpectedly, and Charles Hofmann, Emil’s son, elected to carry on the family business until his semiretirement in 1985.
Since the shuttering of the business, the Hofmann family, and more recently, the Waseca County Historical Society, sought to find a way to highlight the exceptional history of this place. A critical step in realizing that goal was met when the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Larry Hofmann, Emil’s grandson and his wife Jan, are focused on rehabilitating the property in the hopes of using his family’s legacy to provide space for amateur beekeepers and to educate the public about the importance of bees.
This article was written by Ginny Way, Fall 2019. MNHS Landmarks.
The apiary is open seasonally June-October for public events and other opportunities. Contact the Waseca County History Center to schedule a visit.
