When purchased in 1953, it had a house that sat on the south side of the road along with a workshop building that had a basement. Also on the south side was a fenced in wooded area that had a small metal grain bin and a large chicken house where several chickens as well as some ducks roamed the area.

On the north side of the road was the large barn, a granary and an outbuilding to the east. To the north of the barn at the end of a lane was a large building that had been used to house farm workers when the farm raised tomatoes. The Robbins family used this building to house the large herd of hogs being raised. Walter purchased fresh sawn oak lumber and built the stalls and birthing areas in this building. There was a small woods of probably about 10 acres on the northwest corner of the property.

The northern property line was on the Delaware-Blackford County line. The western property line adjoined the farm of Oscar and Grace. Walter, still working in the factory at night, farmed both his 110-acre farm and that of his father as well. Oscar’s farm was a 250 acre farm but contained a large woods that cut down on the tillable land.

The family raised beef cattle and milk cows. Black Angus cattle were the choice of Walter and they were beautiful animals. Corn, soybeans and some oats and wheat were raised. For the time period we had all the finest of equipment – tractors, combine, hay baler, plows, discs, etc.

This house was another of houses that did not have a bathroom. This home, however, did have a water supply other than a pitcher pump. It had a large well pit just outside the kitchen door. This pit was covered and contained the well and the water pump. The water was piped into the kitchen sink. There was only cold water. Any hot water that was either wanted or needed had to be heated on the wood heating stove in the kitchen.  Walter updated the kitchen by installing a water heater and later new kitchen cabinets and sink in Oct 1956. S7 page 68.  He updated the kitchen by first fixing the the drooping ceiling - it probably drooped 6 or 8 inches in some places. He put in new ceiling joists and jacked up the ceiling to make it all level and put in a new ceiling.  S2,

[003-001] Well Pit:  Speaking of the well pit - this pit was a hole measuring about 10 or 12 feet square with concrete block walls and a wooden top covered with roofing shingles.  To access the pit the top was slid to the side and you used a ladder to descend into the area.  The pit contained the electric water pump, water tank and the piping into the kitchen.  The pit was deep enough to keep it from freezing so it was probably 4-6 feet deep.  At some point there was a problem with the well and Dad pulled the pipe up from the well and had it mostly out of the well casing.  He would raise it with the fork lift on the tractor and then apply a clamp to keep it from falling back into the casing.  My job was to apply the clamp once he had lifted it with the tractor.  When the pipe was almost all the way up and out of the casing I had not tightened the clamp enough and when Dad loosened the chain on the pipe it fell back into the well casing.  There was no way for Dad to get the pipe and he had to call plumbers from Hartford City to come out and retrieve the pipe from the casing. 

The house consisted of a living room, kitchen, enclosed back porch, one bedroom downstairs and 3 rooms upstairs plus an attic. The heat was provided by an oil stove located in the living room. Above the oil stove in the ceiling was a vent to the upstairs which provided the only heat to reach the upstairs rooms. Take it from someone who attempted to sleep in these rooms during the winter months; the heat from this source was sparse at best. Mostly the upstairs was sealed off during the winter months.

It was at this house that the kids would take bricks wrapped in a towel to bed to keep their feet warm. These bricks had been heated on the wood stove and after being covered would retain their heat for a little bit.

[003-002] Out House:  Before a bathroom was installed the family had to make the long trek out to the outhouse which was located behind the house. This was not a fun experience especially in the winter time when the wind was blowing. Another exciting part of owning an outhouse was that the pit underneath it had to be cleaned out. This was an adventure that was always done during the warmer months so one could truly appreciate the aromas produced in the process. 

[003-003] Bath time was not as it is today back in the good ole days either. This was usually taken care of on a Sunday evening and took place in the kitchen. The large galvanized tub was placed close to the wood stove and water was heated in a kettle and poured into the tub. The kids would take their baths probably in the same water. Because this was such a job baths were not taken on a frequent basis. The bathroom was added in 1954 - S4 Page 13, pdf, 15 - Originally it only had a stool sitting out in the middle of the room with no walls. He put walls around it and finished the bathroom adding a tub with shower and a sink and ran water to the bathroom.  The bathroom was in the northeast corner of the kitchen.  What a wonderful change to get to take a shower instead of the weekly bath in the kitchen. S2, I remember Dad teaching us boys how to take what he called an "Army Shower" - you didn't use a wash cloth but used the bar of soap to rub all over your body and then used you hands to work the soap into your skin.

[003-004] Norma Becomes a Farmer:  This is the farm where Norma REALLY learned the ropes of being a farm wife. Since Walter worked at the factory at night, it fell on her to be in charge of things while he was gone. Naturally, a big share of the problems that arose on the farm took place while he was gone. One of the worst events was when the herd of milk cows (about 10) broke into the granary and ate their fill of soybeans. The beans swelled up in their stomachs and could not be expelled. The local vet, Dr. Hyde from Hartford City, had to come out and operated on the cows to relieve the pressure. The operations were done in our barn and the odor was terrible. Mostly, the kids stayed on the south side of the road after having made one trip over to see what was going on. Norma and the poor vet had to endure this and it is a wonder either of them made it through without becoming violently ill.  Most of the cows died and dad had them made into hamburger. We had so much hamburger "we had hamburger out our ears." We had a fellow painting the barn - he worked with dad at Chevrolet. Instead of money dad gave him 200 pounds of hamburger as payment. He took the hamburger and forgot about it or something and it all spoiled - so he ended up painting the barn for nothing.  S2,

We also had, at one point, about 60 head of Black Angus beef cattle - they were beautiful animals.  S2,

Walter became ill and was not able to continue running the farm. It was decided to sell the farm and move to a smaller place (Stoney Haven Motel) with less physical work to be done.

A large sale was held on 7 Nov 1958 to sell all of the farm equipment, tools, cattle and horses. S3, The farm itself had not yet been sold but did sell a short time later.