Roger Cellar at the Brown Fruit Farm

Roger Cellar is pictured here with his dog Tony at the Brown Fruit Farm. They are posed on a Model A truck, stripped down to its frame, that was known on the farm as “the Grasshopper.” The truck was used for work in the orchard.

Roger Cellar was the son of Murrin Cellar, farm manager from 1936 to 1958, when the farm closed. Roger was a pilot in the Navy Air Corps during World War II. He flew missions over the Atlantic, searching and destroying German submarines, and then over the Pacific after Germany surrendered.

The Brown Fruit Farm operated north of Worthington for nearly fifty years, from around 1912 to 1958. The farm sold 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. Owned by Frame Brown and later his daughter Molly, 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.