Lehman’s Orchard

The present farm was traded by Ralph Lehman in 1929 for a farm in Northern Indiana. Ralph Lehman, a school teacher, tried many different crops and finally settled on raising 40 acres of tart cherries.

From the beginning, the cherries were always hand harvested.

Ralph and his wife, Raphael had one child, Sarajane. Sarajane married William Lecklider and their middle child, Steve now operates the orchard full time.

The second and third generation fruit growers (William, Sarajane, and son Steve) took over Lehman’s Orchard in 1992 and have since added many other fruit crops sold at the farm and at various Chicago farmer’s markets.