The George Conrad Hutzler Farm, also known as the Conrad Hutzler Farm, is a historic farmstead located on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. One of the farm's owners, George Conrad Hutzler, Jr., was the first to experiment with hybridization of Rosen rye and Michelite pea beans; within 20 years of his experimentation, 80% of the pea bean crop in the United States was descended from Michelite seeds grown on South Manitou Island. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. History George Conrad Hutzler was born in about 1822 and lived in the small Village near Kirchensittenbach, Bavaria. In 1845, he emigrated for America along with his wife Magdalena and their son. George Conrad Hutzler likely worked as a sailor on the Great Lakes. In 1854 his half-brother George Johann Hutzler arrived from Germany and also settled in Buffalo. George Johann Hutzler and his family later moved to South Manitou Island, likely in 1860, and George Conrad Hutzler followed in about 1868. In 1870, he staked a claim to this farm near his half-brother. George Conrad Hutzler died in 1896 and was buried on the farm. His son George Conrad Jr.(born on the island in 1872) took over ownership of the farm. George Conrad Jr. and his son Lewis ran the farm for a number of years. In the 1920s, researchers from Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) chose South Manitou Island to work on experimental hybridization of rye plants, due primarily to its isolation from other rye crops which prevented accidental cross-pollination. The Hutzlers were notable partners in the effort, and won a number of awards for the varieties of Rosen Rye and the Michilite pea bean that they developed. However, during the Great Depression, transportation on the Great Lakes declined, and South Manitou Island farmers had a more difficult time getting their crops to market; even the experimental farming that many farm families, including the Hutzlers, engaged in could not sustain the farms on the island. As a result, families began leaving in the 1940s. Louis Hutzler eventually married and moved to Hastings, Michigan. George Conrad Hutzler Jr. died on the farm in 1951 and is buried there. After George Conrad Hutzler Jr.'s death, a development group headed by William Boals purchased the farm from his son. They rented the farm to the Riker family. However, development activities never materialized, and in