Cassidy Station at Estes Farm is about history, but it’s also about heart – of the Estes Family, which has transformed a century-plus Christian County family farm into a destination they hope others will enjoy.
The Estes family has held the farm since 1872, but today it’s a place where visitors can also create their own special moments. It’s home to a mercantile and flower shop in the old farm house, an event space in the former barn (where stanchions for dairy cattle still stand), and there are gatherings like sourdough workshops and farm-to-table dinners. There is a growing list of seasonal celebrations, like last year when they installed an ice-skating rink and a forest of Christmas trees.
Cassidy Station at Estes Farms hosted an ice-skating rink in 2024. (Photo provided by Cassidy Station at Estes Farms)
Kids and families make their own memories, too, its owners say – like the families who come to simply see the Belted Galloway black-and-white cows and Clydesdale horses in the fields.
“Everybody has memories of going to their grandparents’ farms,” Kyle Estes says of generations past, but notes that’s not necessarily the case today. “It’s further removed. I want people to feel that (nostalgia) when they come here. We literally have people who just show up to feed the horses treats and drive through and see the ‘Oreo’ cows.”
The History of Estes Farms
Kyle and Hollie Estes own Cassidy Station at Estes Farms.
The Civil War was barely over when Kyle’s family arrived in Missouri as homesteaders. In the same era, a small nearby community came to be called Cassidy.
“This community was established as a community center soon after the Chadwick branch railroad was built,” noted a local history book, “Christian County: It’s First 100 Years,” published in the 1950s. “Milt Davis, son of ‘Aunt’ Betty Davis, built a small store near the railroad tracks on land owned by his family. A post-office was opened in the store and named Cassidy. No record of the origin of the name has been found.
“The abandonment of the railroad line in 1934 was the death warrant for business in the Cassidy center, or perhaps the decline of business in Cassidy and other centers like it along the line was the death warrant of the railroad.”
That history has long been important to Kyle. Although he spent his growing-up years living in Mount Vernon, Missouri, he spent a great deal of time visiting his grandparents at the farm he now owns.
Cassidy Station at Estes Farms is located near the intersection of Fremont and HIghway CC.
“My dad would drop me off on Monday mornings and pick me up on Thursday evenings in the summertime,” Kyle says.
Those memories began to percolate to the forefront in new ways as he considered developing the farm into a destination. Part of that was based on opportunity; another aspect was perceived necessity.
Cassidy Station at Estes Farms sells a variety of clothing and accessories, home goods, local meat and niche food items.
“This family’s been here for 153 years this year,” says Kyle. “If we didn’t do something drastic like this – to preserve at least part of this farm – it might just become another subdivision that people drive by and not know all the blood, sweat, tears and all the happy times that went on here.”
In addition to the farm, the Esteses also own the newly opened Galloway Mercantile in Springfield. The store offers similar merchandise to the farm store — and eventually will house a coffee shop — in a place that also ties to family memories.
“It’s actually in a building where my great-great-grandpa had a general store,” Kyle says. “Vaughn Patterson, and his daughter – my great-grandma – lived in this house. It all kind of comes full circle.”
Personal Links for Preservation
Family photos and mementos are displayed in Cassidy Station’s mercantile.
Literal and figurative family fingerprints make their mark at the farm. As Kyle navigated the restoration project – he’s a developer, so the expertise was there – he was committed to repurposing as many materials as possible.
“One of the things you see around here – a recurring theme – is preservation,” he says. “We took everything down to the studs basically – every building. I had just pallets of wood and containers full of antiques. I was big on saving as much of it as we could.”
Among its other offerings, Cassidy Station at Estes Farm is home to a flower shop called Cassidy Flower Co.
The wood on the walls is from the haybarn floor. The original hardwood floors from the house were repurposed. Tractors, once used for work, today remind of the way life once was.
“We’ve had all this stuff sitting around for years,” Hollie says. “It’s like, ‘What are you going to do with all this?’ Well, he found a place.”
The first portion of Cassidy Station opened in 2022, but work has continued basically ever since.
“It was really more a passion project than a project to make money,” Kyle says. “It’s really more about preservation.” After all, Hollie adds, “It definitely costs more to preserve than to just build.”
But to them, that extra effort mattered.
Those details are alongside visible reminders of family legacy like photos and even a quirky framed picture of a poodle that his Great-Grandma “Cookie” had on display. It used to hang in her house; today it still hangs in that same house — but now it’s near colorful dresses, flowery tops, and accessories.
“That poodle picture always hung in this house,” Kyle says of the picture his great-grandmother found at a garage sale. “That’s the only thing that I latched on to when I was 10 years old. She loved that poodle and she thought it looked like her poodle. It’s been hanging in my parents’ garage for the last 24 years or whatever, so I brought it back.”
Perhaps that pleased poodle serves as a bridge and a reminder of what others would think of the project, too.
“I would hope they would be proud of me for saving it, preserving it,” Kyle says. “One of the key themes for the deal – I want people to feel like they’re coming back to Grandma’s house when they come here.”
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