Ant Farm

In the darkest days of the Depression, Frank Austin 1895, a retired Thayer prof, found himself broke. Literally following the advice of Proverbs 6:6, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise," Austin invented the ant farm.

He made a killing. At the peak of ant-farm fever in the mid-thirties, Austin and his staff of five shipped more than 400 houses a day from his Hanover workshop. Local schoolchildren rounded up an estimated 3.6 million ants as inhabitants. The New York Times called Hanover "the center of the new ant industry. "Austin branched out and built cricket houses, observational bee hives, and butterfly-rearing kits. He even had a show on network radio. Eventually the farm frenzy cooled, but by then Austin had earned enough money to retire to Orlando, Florida, where he opened a roadside museum.

Austin's tiny farm was biblically inspired.