Why do we love barns? I have no explanation for my own obsession, but I’ve found a red barn with a story more interesting than any I could have imagined.
I spotted this intriguing building, a round barn, along Interstate 90 in western South Dakota, near Midland. It’s part of the 1880 Town attraction that was established in 1979. The barn serves as the entrance to the “town.”

After digging into the history of the barn, I discovered that it started out as a barn kit sold by Chicago House Wrecking Co., located at 35th and Iron streets. According to early company catalogs, the company was established in 1893 and was later known as Harris Bros.
It appears that this company, though not specifically named in articles reporting on the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, was commissioned to deconstruct – or architecturally salvage – the buildings that were left vacant after the fair ended. “Since which time it has sold millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise throughout the world,” notes an undated Harris Bros. Co. catalog.
An online source identifies Harris Bros. as a small Chicago-based kit home company that started out as a house-wrecking company. Of the six national companies selling kit homes through mail-order catalogs, Harris Bros. was probably the least well-known.
A money-producing structure
Researcher Rebecca Hunter found that salvaging the 1893 World’s Fair buildings gave the company its start. “Their last mail-order pre-cut house catalog was issued in 1931,” she says. “From then until 1958, the company remained in business, selling millwork and building materials through mail order catalogs.”
Reading through the company’s 1913 catalog is like taking a stroll back in time. In describing the barn kits featured in their catalog, the catalog notes that “The barn is the farmer’s workshop. It is as needful to his success as the store is to the merchant. The farm animals are his helpers. Proper housing and adequate provision for their health and comfort, with a minimum outlay for feed and labor, will return as big a dividend as a well-built, well-equipped factory does to the manufacturer. A modern barn lends cast to the whole surroundings and enhances the beauty and value of the farm many times its cost. Do not be without one. Read what follows, then write us. We are at your service and can save you money.”

The catalog goes on to note that “entirely too little attention has been paid to the development of modern barn and farm buildings. These buildings, so simple in construction, offer the prospective builder more returns for the money by far than the finest kind of a residence. They are money-producing, and bearing this fact in mind, we have determined to develop their construction to as near perfection as possible.”
Their barn kit offerings were described as being designed to “meet the various demands of the American farmer and stock raiser. In developing these designs, our aim has been to reduce waste to a minimum and select only such materials that will not only serve the purpose for which they are intended, but may be placed in position at the smallest possible cost. For this reason, we have adopted the built-up, or joist frame, design whenever possible.”
Having a professionally designed plan without the cost of an architect was cited as a considerable advantage. “We furnish a complete set of specifications and a material list describing material and location, so that anyone reasonably familiar with building construction will have no difficulty in erecting any one of these designs.” Custom barn plans were offered for $3.
Fourteen sides for economy

Building materials provided included posts and girders, studding, joists, rafters, sheathing, barn board and siding, hay loft flooring, driveway flooring exterior finish, roofing and shingles. “From the foregoing specifications and descriptions of material it will be seen that we agree to furnish you with practically everything to build any one of these popular barn designs, including all lumber, sash, doors, glass, roofing, nails, hardware, galvanized valley iron, etc., everything of brand-new stock.”
The round barn was referred to in their 1913 catalog as “Barn Design No. 206A.” The kit price was $898 (roughly $28,000 today). The kit description notes:
“This barn is 60 feet in diameter and 16 feet high to plate. It is not round but has 14 sides, each 14 feet. This makes it possible to use all straight material and also reduces the labor cost to a considerable extent. The hay capacity is 80 tons, and the barn is so constructed that every inch of space may be utilized.”

The large doors illustrated in the drawing “will admit a load of hay or silage and by the use of a hay carrier outfit the load may be taken up and deposited at any part of the mow.” The stock capacity was said to be dependent somewhat upon the internal arrangement. By omitting the box stalls, grain room, etc., this barn will accommodate 40 cows. If the stock is not stanchioned, 80 head of cattle may be fed in this building.”
“Simplest yet most substantial”
The barn was described as being “of the simplest yet most substantial character. The outside studs are 2×6, placed 24 inches on center. They are tripled at each corner where they form truss and girder supports. Any ordinary mechanic, who can read plans, will have no trouble in putting up this building when our plans are used . . .”
The number of doors on the barn was flexible and could be “rearranged to suit.” Roofing used was three-layer Pebble dash Rawhide, “the best roofing material that can be used and will give better results, dollar for dollar, than any other roofing made.”

Originally, the barn was owned by the Newt Bartholomew family in Indianola, Iowa. Photos hanging at the barn’s entrance document the fact that, in 1921, the barn barely escaped destruction when a nearby farm building caught fire. One of the photos shows the barn behind a pile of burned lumber. Another features the unnamed people who formed a bucket brigade to save the barn.
The story of how the barn came to South Dakota has been lost to time. However, at some point, it was moved from Iowa to a farm some 55 miles from its current location. When plans for the 1880 Town began shaping up in 1979, the barn was purchased and transported to the current site where it now houses a gift shop, 1880s-era artifacts and antiques, a display of souvenirs from the movie Dances with Wolves (which was filmed nearby) and Native American artifacts.
Proud sentinel of the prairie
A central silo is a unique feature of the barn. The silo extends from the ground floor up through the hay mow and the roof. That is all clearly visible, as the interior has been essentially maintained just as it was when it served as a barn. Original stairs to the loft take visitors to the Dances with Wolves and Native American artifacts displays, and additional features of the original barn design are clearly seen in the loft, too.
I have to think that leaders of Chicago House Wrecking Co. would be proud to know that the barn kit they sold more than 100 years ago did, in fact, deliver the great quality they said it would, as it continues to provide a great service to its current owners.
While the rich history of many of the surviving barns scattered across the plains is unknown, this barn has taught me that it’s always worthwhile to dig into the details of any historic building and serve as a voice so it can tell its story. It’s quite likely that the story of this beautiful round barn will survive well beyond my own. FC
Loretta Sorensen is a lifelong resident of southeast South Dakota. She and her husband farm with Belgian draft horses and collect vintage farm equipment. Email her at sorensenlms@gmail.com