Duncan’s Farm was a dairy farm that doubled as a rural recreational retreat in the 1930s and 1940s. The farm appeared in advertisements in the Call and Post between 1938 and 1942, but there is currently no official record of when the farm closed or opened. The 195-acre farm was operated by Frank and Janie Duncan and was located south of Peninsula, Ohio, in Summit County. Frank Duncan was born in Bull Run, Virginia, in 1878, before moving to Boston Township in the early 1900s. Apart from its role as a working farm, Duncan’s Farm was an attraction for various social picnics, holiday events, and hunting clubs. For example, in 1938 the Criterion Social Club held a picnic and dance at Duncan’s Farm. The East End Hunting Club advertised a “Coon Chase and Picnic” with prizes at Duncan’s Farm in May 1942. The grand prize for the raccoon hunt was $25. Later that year, the Duncan family and relatives, including the Lee family who owned the nearby Cabin Club, held end-of-summer festivities there on Labor Day. Duncan’s Farm was not only an operational farm but a recreational site where Black families could enjoy summer fun.
Frank Duncan with his first wife and children in Virginia before arriving in the Cuyahoga Valley in the early 20th century | Ancestry.com 
Detail of 1910 plat map. Blue stars indicate property owned by H. C. Robinson, then A. M. Laughlin, then D. A. Ely, and then Frank and Janie Duncan. | Summit Memory 
Detail from ad for “Coon Chase & Picnic” at Duncan Farm | Call & Post, May 2, 1942
Resources
- “Display Ad 14 — No Title.” Call & Post. May 2, 1942.
- “Display Ad 5 — No Title.” Call & Post. August 25, 1938.
- “Ex-Ohioan Dies in Washington, D.C.” Call & Post. August 14, 1954.
- Summit County plat map, 1910. Summit Memory.
- T. D. S. “On the Avenue: Gone is Summer.” Call & Post. September 12, 1942.
- Untitled article. Akron Beacon Journal. April 7, 1931.