In 1884 the American entrepreneur and founder of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company Cham, George Ham Page, acquired the "Horbach" farm on the Zugerberg as an alpine farm and holiday home in addition to his farm Langrüti in Cham.
The estate is expanded 5 years later with the purchase of the properties Oberer Horbach and Chellenhof. On 31 August 1894, George Ham Page signed over the Horbach and its three farms to his sophisticated wife and native of Zug, Adelheid Schwerzmann-Page, which was exceptional for the time. She then leased the "Upper Horbach" to the Felder family, while she had the "Lower Horbach" cleared, roads repaired, footpaths and steps, retaining walls and bridges built. The result is a veritable park landscape with a tea house, gardener's house and hunting lodge "Bellavista" in the style of an American log cabin, which is accessed via a 30-metre-long tunnel cut through by the Felder family. Adelheid complements the park with picturesque footpaths along which she has exotic trees such as American pines, walnut trees and Douglas firs planted. The little brook lets them dam up, so that a small lake in the shape of Lake Zug forms next to one of the tea pavilions. Under Adelheid's hands, the rural alp turns into a stately summer holiday resort where the family often and gladly welcomes relatives, acquaintances and even aristocrats from Europe.
In 1923 Adelheid sold the Oberhorbach property to the Leuenberger family. The Felder family, who leased the property, moved into the Gaumerhaus on Unter Horbach, where Mr Felder worked as a gardener from then on. This is why the Gaumerhaus is still called Felderhaus today. From now on, the Leuenberger family wants to make a living from selling wood from the farm's own forests, as wood is in great demand at that time. However, the sale is difficult, no sawmill in the vicinity wants to buy the brothers' wood. In 1926, the family built their own small sawmill and processed and marketed the farm's own wood themselves. The wood for the new barn on the Rotkreuz property in Berchtwil owned by Johann and Jakob's parents is also sawn here.
In 1937, the two brothers Johannes and Jakob decide to split up the property. Jakob continues to run the Oberhorbach farm and Johann builds a new house on Chellenweid. He expands the existing pasture barn on his property and from then on runs a small farm with 2 horses, pigs, sheep and some cows. One year later his first daughter, Marianne, is born. In 1939, at the beginning of the 2nd World War, Johann is drafted to guard the border and is not at home when his wife Aline Leuenberger-Bosshard, 17 years younger than him, gives birth to his second child, son Hans-Ulrich. Aline runs the farm during the war with the help of farmhands and looks after the small family. She likes to sleep with the axe under the bed for her own safety.
Hans-Ulrich takes over his parents' farm at young age, as father Johann can no longer run it due to health problems. He is supported by his mother Aline and later by his wife Vreni Leuenberger-Kaiser and their three children Hans, Verena and Esther. In 1966 Hans-Ulrich builds a new barn with a cowshed and for many years runs a dairy farm and grain cultivation. As dairy farming became increasingly unprofitable, Hans-Ulrich converted his farm and raised the young cattle of a Zug farming colleague.
In 1993, daughter Verena Krummenacher-Leuenberger and her husband had a "Stöckli" house built on their parents' farm in order to support their parents in running the business. 2005 Verena takes over her parents' business. In the following years the Krummenacher-Leuenberger couple builds on the existing barn and gradually converts the management of the farm to suckler cow husbandry.
We are proud to continue the Chellenweid farm with its eventful history!
To the Portrait of Centre Chellenweid Zug, Zugerberg
