Lost Rockford 4 - Hill-Man Farms Traditional Cache
Lost Rockford 4 - Hill-Man Farms
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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This is the fourth cache in a series that will educate cachers
about some of the businesses and locales in the Rockford Area that
have been lost to time.
This should be a PNG but bring your own scribbler, and please
return cache to its hiding spot! Also remember: this area is very
overrun with muggles... Stealth required!
This parcel of land on the Northwest corner of the busy
intersection to the South had at least three different businesses
on it at one time before the building that now stands. I know of
Murphy's Amoco Gas Station, Rockford Ski Shack, and a doughnut
shop.
But today, I bring you here not for those three lost businesses,
but for something else on a larger scale that was lost long
before...
Fifty to Sixty years ago, Northwest of this place where the large
neighborhoods now stand, there used to be nothing but farmland.
Within several hundred yards of where you stand to get this cache,
the large farm's buildings stood for many years. This particular
farm was the Hill-Man Farms Dairy. The farmhouse stood about where
the larger apartment buildings are along Harrison, just East of
Buckbee Apartments. Also as part of the property, there used to be
a Log Cabin further down Harrison where the car wash is now. The
farm buildings including the large barn stood about where the
smaller apartment buildings and houses are 100 yards West of the
cache and North of Beach St. The entire Rolling Green neighborhood
to the Northwest, including the land that Rolling Green Elementary
School occupies, was created from Hill-Man's pasture lands. An
aerial view of the area as it stood in 1948 is the page background
and is included in the gallery of images.
The farm had many cattle that had won awards over the years before
the farm disappeared. A small tabletop display with photos of some
of the award-winning cattle still exists and is on display at
Edwards Apple Orchard East in Poplar Grove (NE of Rockford at N42°
23.544, W88° 48.096). Some other historical data like an aerial
photo showing the neighborhoods North and South of Harrison are on
display as well.
More about the area: On the Southeast corner of the Alpine and
Harrison Intersection stands Union Cemetery (aka Starkey Cemetery).
The cemetery dates to the 19th Century, and is sometimes a landing
spot for out-of-control vehicles. On the Southwest corner is where
old Buckbee School used to stand. It's very hard to believe that
this intersection used to be out in the country, or even the East
end of town like it used to be!
More Trivia: The Swan Hillman Elementary School located within a
mile of GZ was not named for the Dairy Farm, it was named for a man
that, with three friends, founded Rockford Screw Products (now
known as Rockford Products). Some info on Swan Hillman in the
Company History of Rockford Products here: Rockford Products Corporation. Oh, the "Watch
for Livestock" attribute is a tribute and a joke...
Congrats to triton66mike for FTF!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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