Author: iowabarnbook

Do you have a spare silo but don’t know what to do with it? Here’s an idea. This Johnson County silo now has a series of steps inside all the way to the top, offering a magnificent 360-degree view of the surrounding countryside. Below is a long-distance view taken by a drone. (Ritter photo)  

The silo idea was the brainchild of Scott Ritter who spent weekends and evenings constructing it, beginning in the summer of 2014 and finishing in late 2015. Enter below to start the climb to the top.

There is a series of steps every four vertical feet, a four-foot landing, then more steps, winding all the way to the top of this 60-foot concrete stave silo. That was a heavy-duty project, lugging pre-cut heavy boards up more and more steps as he headed to the top. Below is a view of the underside of two tiers of the steps, which gives you an idea of the scope of the project. 

This view shows the very tiny steps installed outside when the silo was built, date unknown. It would have been a treacherous climb. Today they are just decorative, but serve as a reminder of what climbing them would have been like in earlier times.

This ordinary silo has become an extraordinary silo–with a new life. What a great idea this was! Scott Ritter’s dream has become a reality.

Forty-three years ago, when this photo was taken, this barn at 200 East Main Street in downtown Solon was an empty shell, structurally sound but not in use.

It was built in 1838 as a mill. However, residents in the area complained about the mill’s noise, so it was converted to a livery stable. Horses were housed on the ground level, with a workshop and tack room on the second level. Over the years it was also used for cattle and hogs as well as rental car storage. In front of the stable there was a gas station for 40 years before closing in 1999. 

Below is a photo taken in June of 2021. Restoration began in 2013 and it is now Palmer House Stable, a venue for weddings, holiday parties, birthday celebrations, family reunions, weekend retreats, hayloft lodging, and more. See page 56 of Iowa Barns yesterday and today for more of the story. It’s a great transformation.

Prairie Pedlar Gardens, a seven-acre site north of Odebolt, is a popular destination for weddings and summer gatherings. Referred to as a “Bouquet of Gardens,” there is a total of thirty display gardens to see and enjoy. This Sears catalog pre-fab barn, built in 1941-42, also has a barn quilt that adds a touch of elegance.

A rooftop garden of multi-colored wave petunias seen below is a playhouse for their grandchildren. Don’t miss visiting Cook #8 country school on the property and checking out the gift shop as well. 

The site is located in Sac County at a corner of what was once the Wheeler farm, one of the largest farms in Iowa. See page 30 of Iowa Barns yesterday and today for more about the Wheeler farm and page 211 for more of the Prairie Pedlar story.

Can you guess the original use of this building? Today it is a garden shed in Grundy County, with the addition of birdhouses and a barn quilt, but it was originally part of a corncrib over thirty years ago.

 The “building” on top of a corncrib is called a “headhouse,” with openings for an elevator to be inserted to transport grain inside for storage. Headhouses vary widely in size and shape, this one being quite large, evidenced by my husband standing next to it in the photo below. Imagine the difficulty of getting it down to the ground without demolishing it in the process! However, it surely needed significant restoration to achieve this look today.

Pictured below are two other examples of headhouses. If you are in need of one for a garden shed, doghouse, or a playhouse, there are plenty of corncribs that might be available just for the asking. The owner might even give it to you if you would take the whole corncrib too.

WHAT? There is space between the boards in this Madison County barn. Covering the gaps are often long thin strips of wood called battens. Battens keep out rain, snow, and wind, but not in this barn. No battens, maybe just a few flying bats. Was this intentional? No one is left to ask, but some say this provides better ventilation. It could be desirable in summer but drafty in winter. 

This is a Pennsylvania-Dutch style bank barn, referred to as a Sweitzer (Swiss influenced) design, built around 1876. A view of it, seen below, doesn’t give an appearance of spaces between the boards.

Inside, on the basement level, is an amazing 40-foot-long 12” x 12” hand-hewn beam that supports the loft floor. See photo below. Finding a tree this size to make a 40-foot beam would be almost impossible today. One of the hand-hewn support posts, also pictured below, would also have been quite a task for a pioneer builder.

William and Mary Seerley settled on this 200-acre farm in 1856, built the barn, an elegant home, and the combination limestone smokehouse/milkhouse seen below, still in use by the current owners, although not for milk storage. The house has been replaced but the other two buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. They are treasures and a tribute to our Iowa pioneers.

No pigs at your house? Then how about making a snow pig to celebrate the New Year like these German boys are doing on this vintage New Year postcard? Of course snow is needed.

Pigs are big business in Iowa. Over five thousand hog confinement farms exist, raising millions of pigs every year. Not many farms, however, use an older barn like the one pictured above in Mills County. After the Sell family sold their Century Farm several years ago, the new owners, Seth and Ashley Warren, remodeled the barn and are now raising “show” pigs.

There’s a big market for these pigs today, sold to those who are interested in raising them for fairs or other special events for prizes. The competition is keen and the rewards great for those who win.

This barn, either a Louden or Gordon-Van Tine Company design, has wings that might look like it is ready to fly. Below is a view inside minus the actual pigs, as visitor access inside is not permitted to prevent pigs’ exposure to diseases.

Christmas Greetings! During this Christmas season may you find peace and love and joy. I look forward to sharing new discoveries and stories with all of you in 2022. (Note that the children are feeding the cows in a barn. Maybe the barn cats got dressed up just to go caroling.)

Note: The cat postcard ­was printed in Bavaria and mailed in America in 1904. Best Wishes was printed in Germany, and Frohliche Weihnachten was printed in Austria and mailed from Hamburg to St. Louis on December 11, 1912.

Every building is built to scale, over 125 of them, bringing back memories of bygone days. He was active in the family farming operation for decades, and in later years loved to be at the museum to share the history of his creations with visitors. He still hoped to be involved in some aspect of the fall harvest in 2019 but died in August at age 84.

Wayne’s creations are housed in a special room at the museum, except for a few his nieces and nephews have inherited. Below are four of the five tractors, made of wood of course, that he built one year when he wanted a break from building barns. The museum is closed from mid-December until early May. Check the website for details.

Remember Blog #25: Unique lofts. The above photo of this barn in Madison County was part of the story about the loft that had soybean stalks between beams in the flooring dating back to the time it was built in 1880.

At a recent antique show where I was a vendor, Larry Gilbert, also a vendor, saw my book and told me he would bring some family photos the next day. Below is his photo of this barn on the farm where he lived in his childhood. Steel siding has changed its present appearance. To the right of the barn is a corncrib, although the visible section was not part of the corncrib, now gone.  His grandfather, J. Frank Gilbert, is on the right, and his great-grandfather, Joe Gilbert, is on the left. The date this photo was taken is not known.

He also shared the photo below, taken in 1950 when he was 10 years old, posing with his Red Poll bull named El Paso Model. His grandfather was standing behind him and his father, Al Gilbert, was to the right. The bull was very gentle, he said, and every morning he would jump on his back and ride him down to the water tank.

 Thank you Larry for sharing this family history and the photos. Amazing discoveries surface when least expected.

The corn stalks shown here were bundled together and tied up to dry before harvesting the corn, once a common practice before mechanical harvesters were invented. This photo was taken on an Amish farm along Highway 34 west of Murray in Clarke County in 2012.