This farmstead was rented to local families before being abandoned during the '50s.

My Dad purchased this farm and farmstead while I was away from the community; he leased the land to a couple of nephews on crop share because the buildings were not suitable for livestock.

After I was discharged from the U.S. Navy in June, 1966, my Dad and I discussed the possibility to form a partnership to rent the farm land, to renovate the farmstead to add running water to the house, then to add a septic system, to add a partial basement along with a bathroom and to upgrade the kitchen. The next year, my wife and I planted a garden in the upper Left side of the picture. Rural Water System #1 was formed and began service to the farmstead, which enhanced the livestock operation.

This photo captured the farmstead after the cattle feedlot had been installed. After my Dad passed away in 1973; we moved from this farmstead to the Home Farm in 1974. We continued to use the feedlot, until it fell victum to a financial distress in 1987.

The house was rented to my sister and her husband for two years, then to a couple of young people who attended Northwest Iowa Community College for a short time and, finally, to a local young mnan who was a Serviceman for the Harvestore Dealership for a few years. The house was abandoned after he left and fell into disrepair due to abuse from people who would break into the house. The end of the house came when the Local Fire Department requested that the house be used for live Fire Training. The house basement was filled in and replaced with a trailer house that a resident owned and placed on top of a cement pad.

The farmstead remainded the same, albiet some deterioration, through Mother'e Estate settlement until 2007, when the current landowner sold the land and farmstead he owned at auction.

The new owners, slowly, began to remove the trees, buildings and feedlot, and restore the farmstead with a new house, new trees, and a new large building for machine storage and workshop.