While walking around his popular elk farm in Montour County in the early 1900s with a local newspaperman, Alexander Billmeyer told Paul Trescott, “"You know I served a term in the Legislature?" The reporter asked, "Why only one?" "I didn't like it,” was Billmeyer’s reply. “Too crowded. Too much selfishness. Everybody wanted something." As he spat out a stem of timothy hay, he said, "I like animals better.

That love of animals and farming made Billmeyer’s 30-acre farm for elk, deer, wild turkey, and other animals a popular stop, and considered as one of the top attractions in that area of Pennsylvania.

Trescott was a reporter for the Bloomsburg Press and later was a nationally known feature writer for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. During the interview with Billmeyer, he discussed his love of farming and how the animal menagerie developed.

Trescott wrote: “Alexander Billmeyer was short, stocky and round-faced. He wore rough farm clothes and a floppy broad brimmed straw hat. He was chewing a short stem of timothy. He didn't look like either a philosopher or the owner of 2,000 acres of rich farmland, but he was both. His ancestors had been pioneers in Montour County, and like them, he operated sawmills. “Farming,” he said quietly as we walked across the lawn, "is the most wonderful work in the world, and plowing is the best part of farming. When a man has hold of the plow handles, he has his feet in the ground, and a chance to think.”

Mr. Billmeyer picked up a handful of hay, and a fawn ate it from his hand. When he scattered the grain, the wild turkeys were about his feet. “I don't know why they don't fly away,” he grinned. “I guess they like it here. My, but it's nice to look over from the house and see them.” Along the enclosure was a 20-acre picnic area, but no refreshment stands. A few picnic groups were about. On a Sunday, a thousand people might be there, for it was free, and a spot renowned for miles. Despite this, Alexander Billmeyer was a conundrum to many. Often, he was complimented on his hobby, and he invariably replied, “It's no hobby. I've got to do it.” It was this unanswered riddle that led me to talk to him. We sat down on a bench in the shade. “Why do you do it?” I asked. 

“Because I like to, and because it's profitable.” His eyes twinkled. “You know I served a term in the Legislature?” “Why only one?” “"I didn't like it. Too crowded. Too much selfishness. Everybody wanted something.” He spat out the timothy stem. “I like animals better.”

Billmeyer was a Democratic lawmaker in the Fifty-seventh Congress in 1902, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rufus K. Polk and served until 1903.

“How did this start?” I asked him. “One fall I went hunting and shot a deer. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but the next spring when I was plowing, it began to annoy me. What good was a dead deer, I'd keep thinking. I never went hunting again. It bothered me more and more, not only when I was plowing, but at other times. Finally, something told me that I had to raise a deer, to make up for the one that I had shot, and I thought, it won't be much harder to raise a lot of them.” He paused to smile at the animals. “I set aside 30 acres, bought a few deer and elk, and it just grew. Right away when I began to do something for the animals, I got better crops and made more money and bought a couple more farms. Then the people began to come to see the animals, and we built the picnic stuff, and the more people who enjoyed the place, the more money I made off of the farms. That's how I got 15 of them.” His eyes filled. “I can't explain it any other way,” he said.

Born in 1841, near Washingtonville in Montour County, Billmeyer died unexpectedly May 24, 1924, from an attack of ptomaine poisoning.

The Danville News reported, “Some catfish, which he had kept on ice a day or two and which he ate Saturday morning, are thought to have poisoned him. As has been his custom for years, he visited one of his farms, where he superintended some work Saturday morning, not taking any actual part in the work himself but overseeing the farming because of his enthusiasm for agriculture. Near noon he complained of feeling ill and one of his men accompanied him to his home. In the afternoon he became rapidly worse, and within a few hours condition was grave.”

Billmeyer was survived by his wife and four children, including associate judge Harry Billmeyer. After Alexander Billmeyer’s death, his 2,000 acres of farmland were eventually broken off and sold. Additionally, the family dispersed the animals, ending a unique experience and a onetime destination for many people throughout the Susquehanna Valley and beyond.

Billmeyer family ancestors continue to live in Montour County, dating back a number of generations, beginning with Martin Billmeyer, who first settled in Liberty Township. A private Billmeyer Cemetery is located in the Washingtonville area.