Irish Lane, Unzicker Road and Pleasantview Road, Washington Township, Illinois

Due to the increased productivity of farm machinery, there simply is not as much of a need for individual farmsteads.  They increasingly are abandoned, their buildings disappearing one by one.

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The remnants of past higher population density remain, such as the school house below, itself sitting next to what seems to be an abandoned farmhouse.

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Some large barns continue to be used for the storage of hay or livestock.

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Update: Unfortunately, it seems like these barns above and below are gone.

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But other structures, such as this corn crib, are no longer needed; the corn is shipped off to the grain elevator as soon as it is harvested.

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Some houses are seeing restoration, such as the one below.  I chose this quadrant of Washington Township due to its relative isolation; the roads form T-junctions, so many roads are only useful for locals and do not attract the attention of cross-county commuters.

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