Fischer, John and Edna Trusdell, Farmstead

The Fischer House is significant in that it typifies late nineteenth-century Queen Anne farmhouses. It is somewhat unusual in Canton Township where gabled-ell and upright-and-wing farmhouses seem to have been the norm down to the turn of the century. The greenhouses/boiler building complex is a rare surviving piece of architecture directly related to the period of truck farming in the township. The ranch house also reflects direct effects of truck farming based prosperity. The Fischer house constructed in 1897 by children of German immigrants attests to the degree of affluence and assimilation this important group of Canton farmers was able to achieve in just one generation. Although not original settlers, the German immigrants that came to Canton in the second half of the nineteenth century greatly contributed to the development of agriculture in the township.

The Fischer Farmstead is located on a ten-acre parcel fronting on Sheldon Road and delimitated on three sides by wooded area. Two residential buildings are situated to the front (east) of the property, an 1897, vernacular/Queen Anne style farmhouse and a 1945 brick ranch house. Significant outbuildings, including eighteen interconnected greenhouses and a boiler building, used in truck farming operations are located to the rear of the newer house. On the parameter of the property, to the north of the 1897 house, is what remains of a large barn, silo and milk house. A modern garage and a hangar used to house a small private plane are located to the rear of the earlier house. Situated adjacent to buildings which form the remnants of the former Sheldon Corners hamlet, the Fischer Farmstead is a reminder of a rural way of life that is rapidly disappearing in Canton Township.