A LOOK BACK…

Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by the Holland-Springfield-Spencer Historical Society president Karla Miller.

Memories on the Farm

My great, great grandparents owned the farm in Holland from 1875. They came from Germany. The farm was on Holloway Road and went from the railroad tracks to Chicago Pike where my grandfather Ed Dryer’s Sunoco gas station was located and where we all worked. I never saw the homestead as in 1924 a fire destroyed the house. A two bedroom bungalow was built there in 1925.

The other buildings had remained for years–big barn built in 1875; corn crib inside another building that we used as a garage; a chicken coop, yes we did have chickens; an outhouse and a hand pump where we drew water.

We moved there in 1949, as mom decided four little kids ages 8 to 12 needed room to play. We had lived on Hall Street across from Dr. Pollock. The backyard was not large enough and our ball kept going over the fence into Lily Manley’s yard, and she would not give them back.

The adventures this farm provided were endless. The 74-year-old barn brought many fun days. It was a two story building and had many rooms to play in. In time, Ed Kolod who owned two Springfield school buses stored the buses in the top part. A strawberry parade float also was built and stored there one year. It was a purple and white southern belle gown with Joyce Hall as the top of the lady. I remember helping build it. We stuffed thousands of Kleenex tissues in the chicken wire to make the bottom of the ball gown.

The lot next to the railroad tracks was full of sandburs and at that time we did not have a riding mower, it was mowed by hand. We all took turns doing laps around the yard. Then we spent time picking the sandburs off our clothes. One year mom got an idea to put large rocks lining the driveway. Now this driveway was 100 feet or more back from the road. Every time you mowed you had to move each rock and put it back. It was the same for winter. We did not have a snow blower so that driveway was hand shoveled each time it snowed.

I believe it was in 1951, Hank Nachtrab and his son Lawrence put a bathroom in the house. That was a treat. At the back of the property was a small pond that provided hours of fun. In the summertime, we captured tadpoles waiting for them to turn into frogs and in winter it was our skating rink. My uncle Karl and family came to visit, and his three kids were all dressed up. City kids! Mom found some of our clothes that fit them and off we went to show them a fun afternoon. Wolf Creek was our fishing hole and swimming place. Many hours were spent sitting on the bridge by Hall Street casting a line in to see what you could catch.

Next to the creek (Yoder’s Manufacturing today) was our sledding hill in the winter. We were able to slide from the top of the hill to Wolf Creek. We played there until we got very cold and then headed for the house to hang our wet clothes near the basement furnace to dry. We put a jigsaw puzzle together and after a couple of hours, we were back out on the hill until dark.

The Haupricht Brothers rented the fields to plant potatoes. During the fall harvest time, they allowed us to pick up any potatoes for ourselves they had not picked up. We took our paper sacks and filled them with all the very tiny potatoes we could find and took them home to cook. I learned to wipe them off and eat them raw right in the fields. They were considered throwaways. Today the stores sell those same potatoes for a good price.

Coming from a railroad family, we loved to wave to the engineers every day. Counting how many cars each train had was another fun game. When a train was running with hot brakes it would set the grass on fire and sometimes the fire department had to come and put out the fires. It was no surprise to wake up in the morning and find a train setting on the track with a car on the front of it. We got used to the trains, we never heard them go through during the night. The property was sold to Hickory Farms in 1958. So many memories were made on that farm.