Photograph of Molly Brown Caren Fisher

This photograph shows Marie (Molly) Brown (later Molly Brown Caren Fisher) in 1917. She is pictured on the far left of the first row of two rows of unidentified girls, sitting on steps outside a building.

Molly was raised on the Brown Fruit Farm and later became its owner. After going to college, first at Trinity College in Washington D.C. and then at The Ohio State University, she returned to run the farm following the death of her parents Frame and Marie in 1936. She welcomed cooperation with The Ohio State University, with professors bringing their classes to the farm to study their methods. The farm closed in 1958 following several years of early spring freezes that diminished its profitability. OSU’s Agricultural Center two miles north of London, Ohio, is named after her.

The Brown Fruit Farm operated north of Worthington for nearly fifty years, from around 1912 to 1958. The farm grew and sold apples and apple products such as juice, candy and apple butter, as well as cherries, plums and honey. As of 1925, the farm encompassed 100 acres planted with 4000 fruit trees and was the largest fruit farm in central Ohio. It was renowned not only for the quality of its produce, but also for its innovative roadside marketing, including signs telling motorists how many miles they were from the farm.