[AT] The disappearing past

[Francis Robinson]

	The mention of the tearing down of the sugar beet plant reminded me of an 
article in the local paper this week announcing that the local "County 
Farm" main structure will feel the wrecking ball this year. It used to be 
referred to as the "Poor farm". It is one of my old tractor memories from 
my youth. The buildings sat about in the middle of about 200 acres of very 
good farm land. The main huge brick building sat on the edge of a small 
bluff overlooking a small river and it was all quite picturesque. The farm 
sits in a corner of a busy county road and Indiana State Road 9. The school 
I attended from the 4th to the 8th grade sat right on the corner on a few 
acres notched out of the farm. Since in those days the poor that lived 
there farmed the ground, milked cows and raised chickens etc. we often 
watched the guys out working in the fields. They used a couple of Allis 
Chalmers tractors, a WC and a WD IIRC. Now and then a family would be 
living there for a while that had children and they went to our school. 
Every Christmas we went to the farm and sang carols to the residents. That 
visit also included a tour of the facility. Sometimes when the guys were 
working on the fences we and the teachers would talk with them and in all 
cases we found them to always be very nice folks. A large number of them 
were elderly. As a result those of us that attended that school tend to 
have warm fuzzy feelings about that poor farm. That school is now totally 
remodeled rather creatively into a nice church. I guess all of the county 
farm buildings will eventually disappear. In addition to the main building 
there was several barns and sheds and a nice small house of maybe 1,500 sq. 
ft. where the farm superintendent lived. Diana and I have long said that if 
we had $50,000,000 loose that we would make the county an offer they 
couldn't refuse and hire a creative architect to make it into a mansion and 
estate for us. Before they shut it down I always figured I would end up 
there anyway.   :-)
	The local sheriffs department has taken maybe 5 acres which sits inside of 
a very high earth dike for a shooting/training range. The county is almost 
always surprised at how high that ground is bid up when they rent it. It 
usually rents for about 30% to 40% higher than comparable surrounding land. 
Thinking back a few years I believe that the recent renters may have all 
attended that school on the corner. Maybe they are paying for memories... 
:-)
	I would love to drive past there and see an old Allis pulling a corn 
planter in those fields. Of course I can see it... I just have to shut my 
eyes.   :-)



--
"farmer"


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
Robinson at svs.net