Same place as Photo 40-BBO-18 in 1965 and Photo 37-LBO-16 in 1973.

I grew up in this old farm house from about 1964 - 72. I should also add I stayed in this area and have passed by the place many times since we left in 72. and still go by there today on occasion. I remember the changes over the years from driving by the old place.

This 1987 image is more like the 65 image in that it doesn't show the property to the right / north of the old house, which was part of the 80 acre parcel. I notice the George Gray home is shown in its own photo in Photo 23-YBO-18. There were many changes that took place between the 1973 image and this 87 image which I will describe below.

The large tree behind the house was taken down and a large machine shed was built behind and west of the house and right / north of the corn crib. When we lived here there was a small one car garage that stood under the large tree, the tree is still standing in this photo but the garage is gone. The garage could be seen the 1965 and 73 photos but somewhat hidden by the tree which is almost overly pruned in this photo. There also was shed in the back NW corner of the lot. We had two ponys there for a few years and a large garden. The machine shed in this image covers most of the area where the garden and pony lot had been. A small patch of where our garden use to be remains directly behind / west of the corn crib. Other changes, the barn had been painted white instead of the former barn red. The slats on the outside of the corn crib and been closed in with siding and was also painted white. There had been an narrow attached building between the barn and silo which was removed. The bushes and shrubs in the circle drive in front of the barn were also removed during the same period. There was a cow lot and shed that was open but covered behind and west of the barn and these were removed during this period. Last thing I can think of is most of the old barbed wire fences that bordered the farm land appear to have been removed.

It appears that the front porch was still on the house here but I cant tell for sure. I know it was removed shortly after this. I recall how weird the house looked without the large cement columns. It was only a few years after this 1987 image was take that the house was torn down.

The farm sits on the west side of Pearl St Rd. The total of 80 acres in Flora Township, Boone County, IL. 40 acres sit in the upper west portion of Sec 36 and the other 40 acres sit in the upper east portion of Sec 35. The current address of the house if it were still there would be Approx 710 Pearl St Rd, Belvidere IL, 61008. The Coordinates are 42º09'48.5"N 88º50'14.3"W.

My parents rented the house from My Uncle Sumner G DeMunn about 1964. The house and out buildings sat on an 80 acre parcel. A few years later, Uncle Sumner sold it all to George Gray who was our landlord until we moved out in 1972. While we were living there, Mr Gray built a unique charcoal brick house in the empty lot next door to the north which was a small hay field prior to that. The charcoal brick house is still there. Back to the old farm house, we had use of all the yard, the corn crib, a garage and another old shed and the outhouse was still there but we had a bathroom in the house. A nearby farmer named Ron Aves, rented the barn and farm land. He did have cows there some years. The house was torn down about 1990. In recent years, two very large machine sheds have been built over much of the area where the house and yard use to be. The barn and corn crib are all thats left of the out buildings. I have done some research on the early history of the place. The house was probably built by Robert Shannon or his son Howard and dated back to the 1860s-70s era or so they say. It was an old two story farm house but had been remodeled over the years to include a bathroom. The barn was built about 1950, probably by Emerald Busse who owned the property at the time. Shannon History: Robert Shannon owned the 80 acre parcel plus 275 acres on the other side of the road in the latter 19th Century. His son Howard owned just the 80 acre parcel in the early 20th Century. The Shannon one room school sat right across the road slightly kitty corner from our house but burned down in 1947, about 16 years before we moved here. A small ranch style house had been built on the old school property before we moved here is still there today. My brother and I grew up here, living with our parents. I could write a lot more but I guess that's enough for now. Many memories here.