Ryan's Round Barn:
(Page 2 of 3)
January 2000
Susan Wildemuth
Another interesting feature of Ryan's barn is its silo, located in the building's center. Beginning on the first floor, it extends up through all three levels of the structure. Due to the pressure of the enormous amount of silage that would be stored there, more support was needed around the silo's base. That problem was solved when the carpenters double-boarded and reinforced the base with iron bands. Ryan, a man who paid close attention to details, instructed the crew to plaster the interior of the silo to protect the wooden frame from moisture and make it airtight, reducing the chances of rotting silage.
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Built with concrete reinforced with steel rods, an unheard-of structural feature in a barn of that era, the first floor of the three-level structure became the living quarters for Ryan's Black Angus cattle. Fifty cattle stanchions, an extensive feeding system utilizing wooden chutes to transfer feed from the second-floor granaries down to the first-floor troughs, and a trolley-run waste removal system encircle the base of the silo like a doughnut.
Visitors touring the barn can reach the second floor via ramps that lead to a pair of double doors. Ryan had these sliding entrance and exit doors built large enough to accommodate a horse and wagon piled high with hay, straw or feed. Several enclosed granaries, each containing a wooden chute to deliver feed to the first floor, can be found at several locations around this level of the barn. A ring of stalls around the outer wall, once used for equipment storage, now house the Round Barn's growing collection of donated agricultural antiques. A seed germinator, large wooden roller, walking plow, lime spreader, a dirt slip ('the bulldozer of its time'), and a Farmall F-20 tractor restored by the Annawan (Ill.) High School Ag Mechanics class are among artifacts displayed at the barn.
The third level of Ryan's Round Barn is a railed open hayloft or 'mow' that, at capacity, held up to 250 tons of hay. The carpenters left a four-inch gap between the wooden floor of the loft and the outer wall of the barn for two reasons: air circulating around the hay helped prevent spoilage, and it reduced the risk of spontaneous combustion. This floor contains three enclosed chutes extending to the first level. In the old days, hay wasn't baled up nice and neat like it is today: it was put up loose, so the chutes were enclosed to cut down on the mess by keeping the hay together. A self-supporting roof with no interior support columns increased the loft's storage capacity and made it easier to move hay in. Viewing the three-ringed, dome-shaped roof from the exterior, Dr. Ryan included dormer windows in his design, and a 10-foot cupola, both added sources of light and ventilation for the loft.