One could easily pass by this house and barn, giving it no thought at all. Looking much like every other farm, there is not much here to draw your attention away – it’s a nondescript farmhouse along a dusty old road. In other words, instantly forgettable. However these buildings have a special secret and their claim to fame is doubling as the Kent family homestead in the 1978 movie Superman. Here is where a young Clark grows up before leaving Smallville and later becoming the Man of Steel.
This location was no doubt selected because of its out-of-the-way location and the archetypal look of the house, the barn and the golden fields that surround it. It’s a fine example of the common family farm which used to dot the prairies all over North America.
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Scroll down for photos and to comment ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
While filmed in Alberta the movie is set in Kansas and this location offers a worthy facsimile of that state. In fact, I have had a few emails from Kansas-ites (is that right?) saying that the movie MUST have been shot in their state as the scenes in the film looks too much like it.
Included in that is this fun email I received recently (edited as it had bad spelling and no punctuation):
“You are wrong and the house you show is not the one that appears in the film Superman. While the one your found looks somewhat similar it’s plain to see it’s not the same, I mean the road is not even there, and I have found articles online proving that the location of the film was indeed my home state of Kansas. You should check your facts first before posting”…
Sigh.
I remember the movie as a kid and was amazed by the special effects of the time. The movie was pure magic, something (IMO) that modern movies seem to be lacking.
In the pictures you can see that little has changed during the ensuing years. The brush has taken over the property, the windmill now lays on its side, and the barn leans a bit more than before. Overall though it is in pretty good condition and ready to stand in for the Kent farm yet again in the next Superman movie. Well, they’d just CGI the farm in now.
I don’t know much about the site, however I am researching the current owner and perhaps this can help dig up more which I will then report here. It’s not known if this was a real working farm taken over for the filming or it was built especially for the Superman movie. If the latter, they sure did capture the feel of a real farm. If the former, I bet it must have been fun knowing your farm was in the movies.
All these pictures were taken from the road using a zoom lens since I did not wish to trespass (nor should any visitors to this site).
Other areas of Alberta were used in the making of the movie. Clark Kent’s high school was filmed in another town, not terribly far away and he scene where Mr Kent is buried in yet a third location (links below).
Update: April 2013. An email we received from a family member of the farm’s owner, who we have been conversing with a for a while. It’s great to now know the lineage of this site and we thank her for this information…
“The property was an actual working farm from the time it was homesteaded. From what we understand, it was farmed by a bachelor with a zest for landscaping the front of the property. As the gentleman became too old, the farm was absorbed by another local farmer prior to the 1970′s. The land and yard were maintained, yet the farmyard was left abandoned. My brother and I re-discovered the farmyard in the late 1980′s and with my brother’s continued interest, persistence, and research, was fortunate to acquire the subdivided farmyard in 1995. When Superman was filmed here in the 70′s, the film company cut the bushes and trees back, painted the barn, whitewashed the house, and added the north dormer, (Clark’s bedroom). Other than that, the site has remained in it’s original state.”
Hi Chris!! This movie means a great deal to me. I celebrate it every December 15th. Also, I want to verify that this farm is indeed in Alberta. When the movie came out I learned that the Smallville scenes were filmed there at real places (such as the cemetery). I have quite a few books and magazines from 1978 concerning the making of the movie. I live in Birmingham Alabama btw, and when I discovered the Alberta connection I did a personal assignment and wrote a paper about the province as a private report to give my 6th grade math, geography, and gifted program teachers, because they totally totally TOTALLY were in awe of the movie after we all got back from Christmas break. I begged them not to share with my classmates because I was already terribly bullied. Anyway, your blog is fantastic! I’mnow reading all the other things you’ve written about. Before moving to Birmingham I grew up in a small cotton farming census designated place 14 miles north of Huntsville named Toney. My partner grew up in Haleyville, which really is in many ways a lot like the ‘Smallville’ TV series. Anyway, thanks for this piece on the Kent farm from ‘Superman the Movie’. ✌🏻
(Sorry for the delay in approving – we’re just recovering from a huge comment’s system crash.)
We can confirm it is indeed in Alberta and in fact, it’s not really that far from the city we live in. We pass by it all the time and have been to most (if not all) Superman locations filmed in Alberta.
Thanks for sharing your memories and we’re so happy you like the stupid stuff we do.
I know exactly where the property is, but i will stay quiet. It is an Alberta heritage site as far as I’m concerned. Back in the early 90’s I was a hired hand working the fields around the vicinity of the property. I was a few weeks into work before someone pointed out the history of the site. Blew me away.
What a wonderful site. Superman the movie means so much to so many of us. I’m curious about the farmsite. I would love to visit,even if just to snap a pic from the road. Is that possible? I sense the owner appreciates privacy. Would a trip there be worth it or not, in your opinion. Thx for your time and keep up the great work!
So nice to hear from you. That farm is the holy land for many. Yes, you can take a nice shot from the road, so it’s not a total write off. But don’t venture on the property – yes the owner is very private and protective of the place. Thanks for dropping by and be sure to do it again sometime soon!
I have always been curious about what ever happened to the tractor by the barn in the movie. It’s a Cockshutt 40 or 50. Always wanted to try and track it down.
Hi Chris, love what you’ve done here, thank you so much. Watched Superman The Movie last night and have always been curious as to where the farm was, if it was a functioning farm and if it is still there, so thank you for clearing that up! I’d love to visit it one day, if I won the lottery 🙂 Keep up the good work! Jonny (Manchester, UK) 🙂
Wow this brings so many memories back for me. I went to the pics in North Yorkshire, England where ive grown up with my dad to see this. I was 7 and my dad died not long after which broke my heart and never gotten over if im honest. I have a little boy aged 7 too ! and im looking forward to taking him to see the new Star Wars film this Christmas. This film is very special to me for obvious reasons.
This farm brings back great memories for me, I still love Superman and I would travel all the way from Scotland to see it. For me, this is the most iconic farm in cinema history. I hope people respect the owners privacy!!
Sorry for the late reply. I did not get the adres from Chris or from LA-filmcutter. I only asked La-filmcutter if the road was suitable for an RV. I accidentally found the adres when i was searching for movie-locations in Canada in the region Calgary. I did that because Calgary was our startingpoint of our holiday in Canada and the US. And we (me and my girlfriend) are both movie-lovers and we were curious what movies were filmed there. So i was very surprised i found superman. I always thought it was filmed in Kansas. We are from the Netherlands and we have met a lot of old dutch people who emigrated to canada many years ago. It was wonderfull and we love your’e country. I realy understand your worries and I respect that. I am sorry to hear that there are people stealing from this location. (I have read that on the LA-Filmcutter site.) There are no words for that !!!! When we drove by there was a farmer working next to the farm. Maybe the neighbour ? I asked him if it was ok to take some pictures. He said, no problem So we did that and then we continued our trip to the first campground close to the US border.
I believe i got the location from youtube but i am not sure:
For me it was a special moment to see the farm with my own eyes. It is a special place for me because i saw it at least a 100 times when i was a kid. Like Chris said, there are people who don’t respect youre privacy. We are not like that and I will give you my word that i will not spread this location through the internet.
Sorry, my late reply. Thank you for respecting and not publicly disclosing the location of this property. We do hope you enjoyed your travels through our part of the world.
I’m watching Superman right now mostly because I love to watch any film that has scenes shot in our majestic province. I wondered where the cemetery scene was filmed so I Googled the film locations and found your site. I’m looking forward to poking around your site some more!
I am a real superman fan and saw this farm many times on video when i was a little boy. In may this year we will make a trip with a RV through canada and the usa starting from Calgary. Is it ok to take some pictures and maybe walk a little towards the farm? It will mean a lot to me. Me and my girlfriend are from the netherlands.
This is the original 1978 location of the Kent Farm. As a family member of the now owner of this property, I must remind you that this is Private Property. We appreciate your interest and do have plans to restore this property in it’s present state. We hope that you, Superman’s Fans, will appreciate and honour the sanctity of this property.
Thank you for posting and we are so happy to hear what your family has planned for the site. When we shot, we did so from the road, although admittedly we did walk into the (already harvested) field a bit for the one picture. We did not however venture on to the property and we always do out best to respect the wishes of the landowner and to follow the rules common sense. I can understand thought how tempting it is for some, a problem which I think you probably understand, given how much of a draw the place is. I have some questions about the buildings and if it’s okay, I’ll email you these. I curious about the back story – for one, was it a real farm before filming or was it built specifically for the movie?
Such a wonderful memory for me as I saw this film in ’78 at 10 years old. My mom had to let me skip a day of school to see it before it left the theatres (she went with me). Sad to see time wear the house down. Any plans to save or restore it for Superman fans? And I’d surely pay a fee to the owner’s family if they ever opened that portion of the land to visitors.
I have spoken with the owner’s family a few times, but I am not sure what their long term plans are. I believe they hope to restore the buildings, but they did not say what they wanted to do after that.
You know if you do ever restore it, you could make money showing the farm. I would love to see this beautiful place it would be worth the drive from Harrisburg Pennsylvania, then again I would pay big bucks for the farm as is.
You are wrong the farm house scenes were filmed in Kansas. I have seen where it was filmed and the one in Kansas is an exact match to the one seen in the movie. Superman 3 was filmed in my home town of Salina Kansas too. Good report otherwise, although I do not see how you could confuse the one in the movie with the one you photographed. They are close but no match.
Sigh, this must be a troll. Take a look at what IMDB says….no Kansas listed, but Alberta is. Smallville in Superman 3 was High River Alberta, just south of where I live.
The filming location of the Kent farm was filmed in southern Alberta. The actor Jeff East who played the young Clark Kent confirmed this fact in a interview, he said they spent a mouth in Alberta. Who better to know the filming location then the actor who played the part.
In spite of the evidence, we get an endless stream of people messaging us and insisting the Kent Farm scenes were filmed in Kansas. Because the story in the movie said so. I guess that means they also shot on the real Krypton too.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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Hi Chris!!
This movie means a great deal to me. I celebrate it every December 15th. Also, I want to verify that this farm is indeed in Alberta. When the movie came out I learned that the Smallville scenes were filmed there at real places (such as the cemetery). I have quite a few books and magazines from 1978 concerning the making of the movie. I live in Birmingham Alabama btw, and when I discovered the Alberta connection I did a personal assignment and wrote a paper about the province as a private report to give my 6th grade math, geography, and gifted program teachers, because they totally totally TOTALLY were in awe of the movie after we all got back from Christmas break. I begged them not to share with my classmates because I was already terribly bullied. Anyway, your blog is fantastic! I’mnow reading all the other things you’ve written about. Before moving to Birmingham I grew up in a small cotton farming census designated place 14 miles north of Huntsville named Toney. My partner grew up in Haleyville, which really is in many ways a lot like the ‘Smallville’ TV series. Anyway, thanks for this piece on the Kent farm from ‘Superman the Movie’. ✌🏻
(Sorry for the delay in approving – we’re just recovering from a huge comment’s system crash.)
We can confirm it is indeed in Alberta and in fact, it’s not really that far from the city we live in. We pass by it all the time and have been to most (if not all) Superman locations filmed in Alberta.
Thanks for sharing your memories and we’re so happy you like the stupid stuff we do.
I know exactly where the property is, but i will stay quiet. It is an Alberta heritage site as far as I’m concerned. Back in the early 90’s I was a hired hand working the fields around the vicinity of the property. I was a few weeks into work before someone pointed out the history of the site. Blew me away.
I’m sure the owner would thank you. I know they’ve had a problem with trespassers. Isn’t it just the coolest place? We too were in awe on seeing it.
My Mom lived in that house.
Interesting! More info would be welcome.
Too bad they let it get run down. When did she live in it?
(Sorry for the delay in approving – we’re just recovering from a huge comment’s system crash.)
Here’s hoping that person sees this…
What a wonderful site. Superman the movie means so much to so many of us. I’m curious about the farmsite. I would love to visit,even if just to snap a pic from the road. Is that possible? I sense the owner appreciates privacy. Would a trip there be worth it or not, in your opinion. Thx for your time and keep up the great work!
So nice to hear from you. That farm is the holy land for many. Yes, you can take a nice shot from the road, so it’s not a total write off. But don’t venture on the property – yes the owner is very private and protective of the place. Thanks for dropping by and be sure to do it again sometime soon!
I have always been curious about what ever happened to the tractor by the barn in the movie. It’s a Cockshutt 40 or 50. Always wanted to try and track it down.
The owners aren’t too chatty so it might be hard to track down where it went. Still, that’s a darn good question.
What’s the owners email? I got some questions for him.
So nice to chat with you. I’m afraid we are unable to give out contact information for any of the places we’ve been given access too.
Hi Chris, love what you’ve done here, thank you so much. Watched Superman The Movie last night and have always been curious as to where the farm was, if it was a functioning farm and if it is still there, so thank you for clearing that up! I’d love to visit it one day, if I won the lottery 🙂 Keep up the good work! Jonny (Manchester, UK) 🙂
Yes, a former working farm and it’s still there. Still hoping we can get a full tour sometime. Nice to hear from you.
Wow this brings so many memories back for me. I went to the pics in North Yorkshire, England where ive grown up with my dad to see this. I was 7 and my dad died not long after which broke my heart and never gotten over if im honest. I have a little boy aged 7 too ! and im looking forward to taking him to see the new Star Wars film this Christmas. This film is very special to me for obvious reasons.
Glad out little website helps with those fond memories. Thanks for commenting.
This farm brings back great memories for me, I still love Superman and I would travel all the way from Scotland to see it. For me, this is the most iconic farm in cinema history. I hope people respect the owners privacy!!
Spot on, it’s such an iconic place. People from all over the world want to see – they’ve told us!
Hello Casey,
Sorry for the late reply.
I did not get the adres from Chris or from LA-filmcutter.
I only asked La-filmcutter if the road was suitable for an RV.
I accidentally found the adres when i was searching for movie-locations in Canada in the region Calgary. I did that because Calgary was our startingpoint of our holiday in Canada and the US. And we (me and my girlfriend) are both movie-lovers and we were curious what movies were filmed there. So i was very surprised i found superman. I always thought it was filmed in Kansas. We are from the Netherlands and we have met a lot of old dutch people who emigrated to canada many years ago. It was wonderfull and we love your’e country. I realy understand your worries and I respect that. I am sorry to hear that there are people stealing from this location. (I have read that on the LA-Filmcutter site.) There are no words for that !!!! When we drove by there was a farmer working next to the farm. Maybe the neighbour ? I asked him if it was ok to take some pictures. He said, no problem
So we did that and then we continued our trip to the first campground close to the US border.
I believe i got the location from youtube but i am not sure:
For me it was a special moment to see the farm with my own eyes.
It is a special place for me because i saw it at least a 100 times when i was a kid.
Like Chris said, there are people who don’t respect youre privacy.
We are not like that and I will give you my word that i will not spread this location through the internet.
Gr from Holland
Marten
Thanks Marten, we appreciate that you respected the site. I hope you had a great trip!
Sorry, my late reply.
Thank you for respecting and not publicly disclosing the location of this property.
We do hope you enjoyed your travels through our part of the world.
I’m watching Superman right now mostly because I love to watch any film that has scenes shot in our majestic province. I wondered where the cemetery scene was filmed so I Googled the film locations and found your site. I’m looking forward to poking around your site some more!
So happy you dropped by! If you didn’t already see the page, we also visited the cemetery location too…
https://www.bigdoer.com/8964/then-and-now/superman-1978-cemetery-scenes-then-and-now/
Goodmorning,
I am a real superman fan and saw this farm many times on video when i was a little boy. In may this year we will make a trip with a RV through canada and the usa starting from Calgary. Is it ok to take some pictures and maybe walk a little towards the farm? It will mean a lot to me. Me and my girlfriend are from the netherlands.
Gr
Marten
Hi Marten,
It’s nice to speak with you. The farm is on private property and the land owner does not like visitors coming by.
Have a good week!
I Like to Buy it be the New Owner of the farm
I’ll message the owners and if I hear back, I’ll let you know.
And thanks to you Chris for appreciating the property. At some time in the near future, we would like to invite you to view the entire site.
Thank you and I certainly would appreciate the opportunity. With luck I could bring one of my pro friends to take some real killer pictures.
This is the original 1978 location of the Kent Farm. As a family member of the now owner of this property, I must remind you that this is Private Property. We appreciate your interest and do have plans to restore this property in it’s present state. We hope that you, Superman’s Fans, will appreciate and honour the sanctity of this property.
Thank you for posting and we are so happy to hear what your family has planned for the site. When we shot, we did so from the road, although admittedly we did walk into the (already harvested) field a bit for the one picture. We did not however venture on to the property and we always do out best to respect the wishes of the landowner and to follow the rules common sense. I can understand thought how tempting it is for some, a problem which I think you probably understand, given how much of a draw the place is. I have some questions about the buildings and if it’s okay, I’ll email you these. I curious about the back story – for one, was it a real farm before filming or was it built specifically for the movie?
Such a wonderful memory for me as I saw this film in ’78 at 10 years old. My mom had to let me skip a day of school to see it before it left the theatres (she went with me). Sad to see time wear the house down. Any plans to save or restore it for Superman fans? And I’d surely pay a fee to the owner’s family if they ever opened that portion of the land to visitors.
I have spoken with the owner’s family a few times, but I am not sure what their long term plans are. I believe they hope to restore the buildings, but they did not say what they wanted to do after that.
You know if you do ever restore it, you could make money showing the farm. I would love to see this beautiful place it would be worth the drive from Harrisburg Pennsylvania, then again I would pay big bucks for the farm as is.
You are wrong the farm house scenes were filmed in Kansas. I have seen where it was filmed and the one in Kansas is an exact match to the one seen in the movie. Superman 3 was filmed in my home town of Salina Kansas too. Good report otherwise, although I do not see how you could confuse the one in the movie with the one you photographed. They are close but no match.
Nathan,
Sigh, this must be a troll. Take a look at what IMDB says….no Kansas listed, but Alberta is. Smallville in Superman 3 was High River Alberta, just south of where I live.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078346/locations
Just a note…in the credits of the movie it shows three production managers. New York, Alberta and New Mexico. Why would that be? Sorry no Kansas.
Still, we get a lot of messages claiming Kansas in the movie was Kansas in real life.
The filming location of the Kent farm was filmed in southern Alberta. The actor Jeff East who played the young Clark Kent confirmed this fact in a interview, he said they spent a mouth in Alberta. Who better to know the filming location then the actor who played the part.
In spite of the evidence, we get an endless stream of people messaging us and insisting the Kent Farm scenes were filmed in Kansas. Because the story in the movie said so. I guess that means they also shot on the real Krypton too.
I could have swore they filmed it in Kansas. Alberta sure does a fine job of filling in for that state.