Tim Washburn

Tim Washburn is the co-curator of the Lions Heritage Museum in Lawton, Michigan. A large portion of the museum features artifacts and information on grape growing, wine making, and related industries.

I have firsthand knowledge of life on the grape farm and in the asparagus field, and it’s just part of my heritage. I got involved with the museum because of the community center and my interest in history and in local history, in particular. I guess that’s my background.

There were several grape juice companies in the area like J. Hungerford Smith and Paw Paw Grape Juice Company. Basically, the only real juice company that’s left in the area is Welch’s. The rest are all wineries…We have other industries such as Honey Bear canning factory, which also did deal with grape juice, but they’re more into other fruits and vegetables now, like pears, asparagus, and cherries, apples, blueberries, etc.

With the advent of pressurized sprayers, they were able to control the insects. The sprayers didn’t come about until around the turn of the century. The first ones were powered by turning wheels that powered the pump or gasoline engines. Later on, steam engines actually powered the sprayers, and finally power-driven from a tractor. This spraying controlled not only the insects but also the weeds. This solved the problem of whether or not the vineyards should be cultivated because they could spray with weed killer under the vines and didn’t have to worry about hoeing or disking.

I was born and raised on a grape and vegetable farm in Paw Paw, and have been farming here in Lawton for thirty-some years. My father was one of the pioneers in the vegetable business, particularly asparagus. He was the first commercial grower of asparagus in the state, and my grandfather was the person responsible for domesticating asparagus so that it could be grown commercially…My dad was also a county agent here for many years, back in the [19]40s and 50s.

Initially growing grapes was very labor intensive. Everything was done by hand, starting out with some horse drawn equipment.

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WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY / FT. MIAMI HERITAGE SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN