Text Box: SMOLARZ BARN                This picturesque barn is located at 1122 Winters Rd. Corwith Township Gaylord. It is owned by the Smolarz family and they shared this history of their family and the barn with us…                The original property was deeded to the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad in 1870. It passed into the Smith family in the late 1880’s and then through a succession of owners until Ignace Smolarz purchased the property in 1933 from the Yuill family. He bought 80 acres and later added more parcels. Today the farm totals 400 acres.                Ignace and Hattie Dzwik were married on October 28, 1935. They had five children– Henry, Martin, Richard, Regina and Blanche. They raised hogs, chickens, dairy cows, potatoes, hay and grain.                In 1941 they had the barn built. It was designed by Dave Passen, head carpenter and Joe Dzwik, assistant carpenter. The barn is 40 by 60 feet and the upper level is 35 feet from floor to peak. There is an eight foot basement under the floor. The basement is poured concrete with field stone.                The steel for the roof was purchased from the Elmira General Store, owned by Stanley Cherry.                The hand hewn beams from the old barn on the property was used in the new barn. Ignace cut elm trees on his property for lumber for the barn. The rafters were made from laminated elm boards with Walter Kosira’s sawmill.  A jig was used to make these rafters.                The barn housed livestock and loose hay was stored in the mow.  Pulling heavy loads of loose hay up to the loft contributed to the sag in the roof that can be seen today.                When the Smolarz family’s dairy herd expanded  they sold cream. First they shipped their  cream to Gaylord by train and sold it to the Sedell Co. Later the Remus Co. picked up the cream from the farm with a truck. In 1963 they began to sell grade A milk to the Michigan Milk Association.                Today the farm is owned by a partnership involving Henry, Martin and Richard Smolarz, the sons of Ignace and Hattie Smolarz.