Community

Encouraging Barn Preservation

By Leslie C. Mcmanus
Published on August 16, 2016
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The round, four-story Wickfield Sales Pavilion near Cantril was built in 1918 by F.F. Silver as a sales pavilion and rooming house. Built of hollow tile, the barn measures 52 feet in diameter. The first floor held a sale ring with bleacher seating for 700. Farm employees lived on the third floor. Overnight guests were housed in second and third floor rooms, and the third floor included a large open space often used as a party room. The kitchen, dining room and pantry were in the basement. The barn is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The round, four-story Wickfield Sales Pavilion near Cantril was built in 1918 by F.F. Silver as a sales pavilion and rooming house. Built of hollow tile, the barn measures 52 feet in diameter. The first floor held a sale ring with bleacher seating for 700. Farm employees lived on the third floor. Overnight guests were housed in second and third floor rooms, and the third floor included a large open space often used as a party room. The kitchen, dining room and pantry were in the basement. The barn is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Photo by Teri McManus
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The round, four-story Wickfield Sales Pavilion near Cantril was built in 1918 by F.F. Silver as a sales pavilion and rooming house. Built of hollow tile, the barn measures 52 feet in diameter. The first floor held a sale ring with bleacher seating for 700. Farm employees lived on the third floor. Overnight guests were housed in second and third floor rooms, and the third floor included a large open space often used as a party room. The kitchen, dining room and pantry were in the basement. The barn is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The round, four-story Wickfield Sales Pavilion near Cantril was built in 1918 by F.F. Silver as a sales pavilion and rooming house. Built of hollow tile, the barn measures 52 feet in diameter. The first floor held a sale ring with bleacher seating for 700. Farm employees lived on the third floor. Overnight guests were housed in second and third floor rooms, and the third floor included a large open space often used as a party room. The kitchen, dining room and pantry were in the basement. The barn is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Photo by Teri McManus
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Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the gable roofed, bank-style Galloway barn was built in about 1886. The well-preserved structure has 40 vents and 32 support posts, and an intact Louden Machinery Co. litter carrier. The barn is owned by Bob and Sharon Galloway, Keosauqua.
Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the gable roofed, bank-style Galloway barn was built in about 1886. The well-preserved structure has 40 vents and 32 support posts, and an intact Louden Machinery Co. litter carrier. The barn is owned by Bob and Sharon Galloway, Keosauqua.
Photo by Teri McManus
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A barn cat holds court at the Parsons barn.
A barn cat holds court at the Parsons barn.
Photo by Teri McManus
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This unusual English bank-style barn has a saltbox roofline. Livestock were kept on the lower level, granary rooms were on the first floor and a haymow was on the upper story. It is owned by Laurie Dorothy, Keosauqua.
This unusual English bank-style barn has a saltbox roofline. Livestock were kept on the lower level, granary rooms were on the first floor and a haymow was on the upper story. It is owned by Laurie Dorothy, Keosauqua.
Photo by Teri McManus
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A lazy Susan-style feed bunk, part of the Louden Machinery Co. equipment still intact in the Clark barn.
A lazy Susan-style feed bunk, part of the Louden Machinery Co. equipment still intact in the Clark barn.
Photo by Teri McManus
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The gable end of the Parsons barn is not symmetrical: It extends south to include the fore bay.
The gable end of the Parsons barn is not symmetrical: It extends south to include the fore bay.
Photo by Teri McManus

Like the windmill, the barn is an enduring icon of farm life – but also like windmills, barns are steadily disappearing from the rural landscape. Two Iowa groups are doing what they can to reverse that trend.

The Iowa Barn Foundation (IBF), an all-volunteer, non-profit organization founded in 1997, raises money from individuals, foundations, and corporations to give matching grants to property owners to restore their barns. The group hopes to encourage barn preservation, teach young people about Iowa’s rich agricultural heritage and renew pride in a unique heritage.

It is a mission shared by volunteers in Van Buren County, Iowa, where the countryside is dotted by nearly 40 well-preserved barns, some of which have been supported by IBF grant funding. “Barns mean different things to different people,” muses Brad Klodt, who moved an 1895 barn to his farm in 2002, and who is active in the Van Buren County barns program. “They were built by people with no formal education and many are still standing. That proves that people can do anything if they set their minds to it.”

During the annual Scenic Drive Festival put on by the Villages of Van Buren County, a handful of barns are open, offering interesting stops as you wind your way through the villages, where countless activities are offered that weekend. The barns are manned by owners who are happy to chat, and visitors are encouraged to step inside and take a look around.

Builders took pride in their work

Few of the old barns are working facilities. Many are empty, or house antique tractors and other farm collectibles. But they still have stories to tell. Van Buren County is just 25 miles from Fairfield, Iowa, the home of Louden Machinery Co., once a leading manufacturer of barn and stable equipment.

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