Shimeien is located on the site of the previous Hashiguchi Farm, and in 1883, Monbetsu (now Date City) sugar factory director Bunzo Hashiguchi opened a farm in Sobetsu in 1887. In the same year, he opened a farm in Rusutsu-mura, and encouraged the use and import of agricultural tools and other products from the United States in order to spread American agricultural practices.