Our 100 Year Old Barn and Silo
One of the reasons we were attracted to our new property was this amazing 100 year old bank barn. This massive barn is literally 100 years old this year! It was built in 1919. Some of the stories we’ve heard so far about this barn are pretty cool. It’s been home to cows, steers and pigs…at least that’s what we know of so far. This barn has also stored tons of hay, straw and farm machinery and I can’t imagine how many tons of grain the 100 year old concrete silo has stored!
Now, however, the barn is home to our chickens on the lower level and pigeons, bats and other small creatures on the upper level. There hasn’t been much human activity in the barn over the past 15 years. The previous owners didn’t have a use for the barn so they were content with just letting it set and decay and eventually caving in. So it looks to me like there is a lot of work to do to bring her back to her original beauty. I’m not a structural engineer or a historic barn expert, so I’m not exactly sure of what all needs to be done.
I do know that the holes in the roof need patched and there are some missing siding boards that need replaced…I think that’s a good place to start. If we can stop rain water from coming in and plug most of the holes where the bats come in and out, that would be great! Aside from that, I know there are some floor boards that need replaced, a few beams need repaired/replaced, the upper level floor is pretty uneven in places, there is a concrete block wall that is leaning on the lower level (and it has A LOT of weight above it), the concrete floors in the lower level are pretty torn up and there is some junk and a lot of guano (bat poop) upstairs that needs removed.
We want to save this barn, and I think it is in good enough shape to save, but there is no way we can do this ourselves. We don’t have the tools, the knowledge or the funds to repair this barn. We’re not looking for handouts, but we’re going to need to raise money before we can resurrect this wonderful piece of Indiana history.
What is our vision for our barn?
We don’t want to bring this barn back to life for ourselves, we want this for the entire community. I see this barn as a gathering place…Yes, I want to be able to use the barn for some of its’ original purposes like housing animals in the lower level, but on a small scale. Chickens, a few ducks, maybe some lambs or goats, but nothing large scale.
The upper level though, I see as a place for people to come to gather. For class reunions, family reunions, a small fall festival, maybe a wedding or two, gardening/homesteading classes, farm tours, or any reason you can think of for people to come together. I’m not expecting the space to be “livable”, but I would love to see electric back in the barn for lighting, music and entertaining purposes, water back in the barn for the animals and entertaining, and the holes sealed up so it can be a comfortable space when the weather is reasonable.
Also, I want to see the barn restored for historical reasons. As we all know, the easiest thing to do with an old barn is to let it cave in on itself and then dig a hole and bury it, that’s one reason there are fewer and fewer historic barns. Funding is probably the biggest reason people don’t fix up their old barns. I know that there are some funding options out there, but I’m not exactly sure what all is available, how to get the process started, or if we would be able to get enough funding to complete the project.
This is our barn’s 100th year, maybe this year we can start the restoration process and have a barn festival/celebration very soon! Please feel free to comment with any ideas or resources you may know of or if you have experience with historic building restoration!
