Rogers Community Auction

Our History

Emmet Baer Lucille Baer Jim Baer

In 1948 Emmet and Lucille Baer started a consignment produce auction at the local cattle barns in Canfield, Damascus, and Signal. They accepted consignments from local farmers and auctioned the produce to the public.

Emmet purchased an eight-acre site near the Morrisville auction barn in Signal on St. Rt. 154 in 1955. He built a barn and started the Rogers Community Auction selling produce, eggs, chickens, rabbits, and other miscellaneous items every Friday. An egg auction was held every Monday: produce auctions were conducted during August and September three times a week. A few of the vendors that sold their wares at Morrisville joined Emmet and Lucille to start a small market at the Rogers site. Thus began a family business that would span generations and put the small village of Rogers, Ohio on the map.

The Baers opened a small restaurant on the grounds and expanded the market during the 1960s and 1970s. Approximately 200 vendors sold their wares outside the auction barn.

Emmet’s death in 1971 left Lucille and their son Jim to run the business. Jim had a larger vision for the market and began a building program in 1980. He built two pavilions and five buildings for vendors. A new poultry barn was built to house the small animals that were auctioned. The restaurant was expanded and full meals added to the menu. Rows of new lighted, outside vendor spaces were added to bring the total number of outside vendor spaces to 1,300. Jim purchased more of the surrounding ground to hold the expanding auction and market. Now there’s more than 70 acres of free parking.

Jim, who was licensed both as an auctioneer and real estate broker, saw an ideal way for a person to start an independent business. For a small investment and a few dollars rent each week, vendors can set up shop at Rogers with the opportunity to show their wares to as many as 50,000 people each week.

The auction is a family affair. Since Jim’s death in 1999, his sons, Ken, Bill and Wade Baer, are the managers and auctioneers for the market. Beverly Cline,  widow of the late Jim Baer, and Connie Hughart, Jim’s daughter, manage the office.  The couples daughter Megan Baer is pursuing her career as a Ultrasound Technician and their son Sam Baer completed college and currently works  as an apprentice auctioneer.