Černík History in Photos

Černík family farm circa 1950s.

Cernik family farm today via google maps, satellite view.

Marie Magdaline Carol Cernik, our mom, circa 1935. This chicken coop was long gone and upgraded to a larger building by the time we were born.

The original farm could only be entered from the county road to the north of the plot of land. Some years later, Frank would purchase the 46 acre plot to the east. He would create the pictured driveway that would now be the USPS official entrance to the farm, leading directly into the main yard and house.

This driveway would have crops on the North side and a good size pasture with a pondon the South side. This pasture was up against to barn for easy access by the livestock. The original entrance, would now be the back entrance.

This is the house that Frank built in 1948. Ray and Elaine had already married and moved to their own farm.

There is a good size grass front yard for building snow forts and water fights —or having your mom hose you down before she let you into the house.

From the back entrance, you could go downstairs into the basement or into the kitchen. Back of the farm house. There used to be more trees around it (see stump).

Side of the house from the "farmyard" area. The farmyard was surrounded by buildings and protected by the windbreak.

We had a LOT of great times in that house. The upstairs, where we often slept had NO heat. But a BIG bed.

The front entrance from the farmyard has a stone gate and walkway. There were a lot of Christmases where Santa's tracks led to the yard through that gate.

The narrow building on the right was the chicken coop. If you wanted fresh eggs for breakfast, that was the place to go. The partial building on the left is the garage.

This is the west side of the building that was used to store grain —corn or soybeans. It also had a corn crib for whole corn on the cobs to dry in.

Behind it were other sections for equipment storage. You can see it on the other photos. This is the largest original building left since the barn was sold off.

The same building looking from the Southeast. We used to play up in the drying grain. It was like think quick sand. Got a soy bean stuck in my ear. Thanks bro

The same building looking from the North. Grain carrying trucks would enter here to pick up a load of grain that had been drying on the second floor via a grain chute.

An additional storage shed. Dave stored his car, a Chevy Chevelle in that shed when he went to Navy Boot-camp.

There used to be a lot more space and windbreak by the building. One of the trees was a large mulberry tree. Where the corn is now right up against it, the back road once existed.

Field corn —used for livestock feed— as opposed to "sweet" corn, which is what you eat on a cob or out of a can or frozen bag.

A good portion of the windbreak, extremely important in the Midwest, still exists today.