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ChrisHoepker
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Joined 2020
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1983
Washington County, IL
Commented & Pinned
This was the farm that my Uncle Lester and Aunt Irene Gilbert owned and operated. In addition to raising corn, wheat and soybeans, Uncle Lester had a dairy operation with Brown Swiss cows of which he was quite proud. Aunt Irene ran the household and raised chickens for egg production. During the years 1960 to about 1963, on Saturdays and school vacations, I helped Uncle Lester with haying, planting and various maintenance work. My last visit there was in 1990 along with my wife and two young sons. By that time he was beginning to retire and no longer had the dairy herd. Not having been there since 1990, I had to consult Google Maps for changes since this 1983 photo was taken. There have been additions to the house, a gable roof machine shed replacing the Quonset shed in the photo and another shed nearby. Chris Hoepker
1964
Washington County, IL
Commented
I was born in this farm house in 1943 and lived there until after my parents deaths in 1960. My dad raised wheat, corn and soybeans with the occasional crop of oats or barley on this 140 acre farm. The grain operation was complimented with a livestock operation including beef cattle, hogs and chickens – essentially the kind of farming common at the time in that area. I can faintly remember the days in the late 40’s when electricity (thanks to FDR’s Rural Electrification Administration) was installed. Before that we made do with kerosene lamps. After I left, a neighbor and friend took over the sharecropping arrangement and converted to dairy. In this photo, the farmstead is mostly as we had it, the main change being alterations to the red barn and the addition of the loafing shed. I have an aerial photo taken sometime in the mid-50’s in case anyone wants to see the changes. The son of the neighbor who took over now lives there and has a pure corn, soybean and wheat operation. Anybody who wants to view the changes can use Google Maps or Google Earth.