McCormack Farm

Alexander (Alec) McCormack emigrated from Ireland to America in 1862.  He came to New York City by way of Ellis Island.  He worked in a wagon factory for a time, then he moved on to Albany, New York, Chicago, Illinois, Port Huron, Michigan, Taberville, Missouri, and in 1875, to Johnson County, Missouri.
The acreage, of which this 120 acres is a part, was bought for its standing timber.  Alec, with his brother-in-law, ran a saw mill.  It stood on East Post Oak Creek near the house which still stands.  This is the second house, which was built in 1889; the first house burned in 1888.  Oxen were used at the saw mill to drag the big logs up from the timber where they were cut to the mill where they were sawed into lumber.  The saw mill was powered by a wood-burning steam engine.
At Alec's death, the land went to his widow and children and was farmed by them.  In the early 1900's, Walter McCormack began buying the farm shares of his brother's and sister's.  this farm has been and is still being worked as a stock and grain farm and is now owned by Dale McCormack, Walter's son and Alexander's grandson.
At one time, this Post Oak bottom was surveyed by the Rock Island Railroad with the intention of building a line from Kansas City south, but a rock bluff over west made this impractical, so the Rock Island line was built near Chilhowee on flat land.  Another time, geologists surveyed this area and said that there was oil underground here.  This really got people excited.
The house that Alec built in 1889 is now being occupied by his great-grandson, Allen McCormack, the fourth generation to live at this place.