My paternal grandparents, Frank & Caroline Goracke, owned this farmstead from about 1915-1934, and my father lived here as a child. On our way to visit relatives who remained in this area, my father recounted stories about walking from this farm to the Catholic school in St. Mary, stopping at a windmill for drinks of water, serving as an altar boy at the Catholic church, and his school experience in the two-story brick boarding school on the hillside. But the one story I remember most, perhaps because he retold it at least twice with the exact same emphasis, was the story about the corner post. I remember so distinctly where he stopped the car on the country road, pointed out the thick, knotty tree trunk, and told about how he and his father had planted that post. His father said, “That post will be here in 100 years! 100 years!” I calculate they placed the post sometime between 1928 – 1932. Dad also showed me the hillside where he used to sit and watch the trains go by. He talked about counting the train cars and that the record was 46. When we drove to Grandpa Goracke’s funeral services in St. Mary in January 1967, Dad told me the story again. The farmhouse and the barn burned down long ago, and the few remaining structures on the property are in shambles. But this cornerpost still stands strong. It looks like it will make it to 100 years.