Centennial Farm

As many of you know, we purchased our house from my grandfather (John Morrison). He was born in and subsequently lived in this house on and off for most of his life until we moved in.

Although it was not his first purchase in this area, Grandpa's grandfather (I think) purchased the house and immediately surrounding farm land around 1895. At one point, the Morrison family owned a great deal of the local land, extending all the way north to the Salt Fork River.


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Over the years, the farmland was sold, handed down, and sold again. Now, the Morrison farm, still owned and managed by my grandfather, consists of approximately 100 acres, surrounding our house on all four sides. Because this piece of farmland has been in the Morrison family continuously for more than 100 years, the farm qualifies for the Illinois Centennial Farm Program. Grandpa recently completed the paperwork, and when he came to meet Atticus, we planted the Centennial Farm sign at the end of our lane.





We're very proud to be able to help keep the homestead, in addition to the farm, in the family.

Clark School

All three of the kids spent the last weekend at my parents' house, so Kimberly and I spent the entire weekend trying to remember how to live without the kids. It was no small task. I think we managed.

As part of the management process, I rode to Royal and back using my "guaranteed wind shift" route. On the way back, I finally remembered to stop at the northwest corner of Homer Lake (corner of 2500E and Homer Lake Rd) to look at a historical marker that I've known about for some time, but always have forgotten to actually look at.


View Royal Loop in a larger map. The Clark School historical site is at the blue marker on the left.

This is the site of the Clark School, a one-room schoolhouse that was active from 1856-1951. The display there talks mostly about the collection of schoolhouses that were around Homer. I believe it said there were more than 10 within 10 miles of Homer at one point in time.



This site is particularly interesting to me because the display includes a 1930 picture of the students (about 20) and their teacher in front of the school. Front and center in the picture is my grandmother, Christine Morrison (Wiese), and two of her sisters. Around he same time, my grandfather was also attending a one-room school house situated about halfway between our house and Homer. I don't believe there's a marker for that one though.



Homer has a more interesting history than one would guess from its current state. The town was originally built about a mile north of its current location, on the Salt Fork. It was later moved to where it is now. A trolley used to run through town. In the early part of the century, Homer was the center of African-American life in Champaign County. I've learned this from paging through one of the Homer history books that have been published.

One of these days, we'll get around to visiting the Homer Historical Society Museum, that's supposed to be interesting.