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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBarns in the City “In the northern states of America, the farmers generally use barns for stabling their horses and cattle; so that among them, a barn is both a cornhouse or grange, and a stable.” Peter Kalm, Travels (1770) “If you own a farm, and intend to be a good farmer, start out with a determination to have only suitable farm buildings, such as will look well from your neighbor’s house. Let your barns look like barns, your houses like houses. We would not for anything have your barns be mistaken for houses, or your houses for bans; for such things we have seen, and it makes us feel as if there was a screw loose somewhere. Barns should not be built for show. The should of course be made to look well – should be arranged to save as much labor as possible in the care of the animals that are to be housed and fed in them. Let them be well ventilated and lighted, properly floored; the stone-work of foundations thoroughly built, no dry, but laid up in good cement mortar. Don’t invite the rats, as they will come without.” Palliser’s Model Homes (1878) “It is possible that millions now living in North America have never seen a barn, let alone been in one. In the foreseeable future, there is more than a possibility that, for many, the kind of barn illustrated in these pages will not be there to see. When one considers the exposure of our old barns to the winds of changes, as well as those other winds which have buffeted them for a century or more, the marvel is that any are left for those who would try to comprehend the secrets that they hold.” Arthur and Whitney, The Barn (1972) The Gambrel-Roof Barn, the ultimate in traditional American barn construction. INTRODUCTION Drive down Highway 61 through Cottage Grove today and you see the modern face of a growing suburban city (estimated 1989 populations: 22,000). The housing and commercial development clustered along the highway are the result of thirty years of growth. But, looking down on this recent growth from the th Camel’s Hump, overlooking the 80 Street-Highway 61 interchange, we see tucked away near the overpass on old Pt. Douglas Road one of the city’s remnant barns, reminding us of Cottage Grove’s 140-year history as a farming community. If you should look for more barns away from the highway, along the rural roads, you will see them in all directions, some close up along the road, others at a distance over open farmland vistas. Suburban residents may see them every day and perhaps associate the with farming generally, but more often these days barns are largely forgotten monuments to their builders, the early settlers and lifelong cultivators of Cottage Grove. Sadly, as the barns become obsolete, decay or get in the way of new development, they are also disappearing at an alarming rate. The preservationists in a community will usually turn their attention first to saving the historic houses that provide material evidence of their area’s heritage. This approach in Cottage Grove has resulted in a number of historic houses listed in either the National Register of Historic Places or the City Register of Historic Sites and Landmarks. Only recently has the city turned its attention to agricultural buildings. It should be said at the outset that the present work is only the first step toward a comprehensive study of local barns. The booklet format does not permit an in-depth look at individual barns. Instead we must be connect with looking at barns from afar, grouping them generally by certain shared architectural characteristics (such as roof shapes) in order to learn what these monumental buildings have to tell us about the history of Cottage Grove. In addition, we will briefly approach the question of what the preservation of barns as cultural resources will mean to future residents of the city. THE MEANING OF BARNS People take barns for granted. Their shapes and forms are familiar to all of us, whether we dwell in a rural or urban environment, and we can even say that the shape of barns holds important meaning for us as Americans. When a character in a children’s book goes down to the farm, the farmhouse and yard are distinguished from any other house lot by the barn looming in the background. It may have a straight-line gable roof, but more often the identification is made with the broken roofline of the gambrel barn. Popular culture associates the gambrel roof shape with the architecture of restaurant chains featuring American style “Home Cooked” meals, or with other buildings trying to achieve the “Country” look. And look around our neighborhoods: suburban acreages are small and yet when sheds are built to house lawn and gardening tools, what is the popular form? The gambrel roofed barn! A sheet metal shed with a slant roof would be all that is needed – but present the suburban landowner with a choice between one shape that resembles and “outhouse” and another that suggests that stately grandeur of an old barn, and there is no contest. It is a matter of choice. And the many barn-shaped sheds in our spreading suburban neighborhoods make a definite statement for all the world to see, and it is this: we are proudly suburban, but we haven’t forgotten our roots. The barn is a powerful reminder of the family farm and the independence of American farm life. We may not plow much land, we may sow only grass seed and a few rows of garden vegetables, but “our barn” is a landmark just as the great barns are, and connect us to the land and to our heritage. Barns have other meanings. The larger the barn, the greater the capital expended in raising it. To farmers, each barn is a monument to the hopes and plans of an earlier generation on the land. As such, each barn is an historic milestone: it may represent the roots of the family on a particular farm, or it can more generally represent a vestige of the golden age of the family farm, but it is always a landmark, a special place – what Carol Ann Marling, author of Colossus of Roads, calls a “stopping place in time”. So, in a community like Cottage Grove it is easy to see that just about everyone has a sense of what barns mean. Furthermore, there is a shared belief that a good barn ought to be built a certain way: large, so as to dominate the farmyard, and constructed of wood, with a spacious haymow or loft under a great roof. Modern farmers might dispute this notion as they raise their efficient, cost- effective sheet metal buildings – but when they refer to barn they usually the mean the large, traditional wood barn, and the pole barn or shed. ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN “BIG BARN” The traditional American barn is a unique development in agricultural history – we can trace its evolution back to the churches and monasteries of medieval Europe – and its moment in history is passing. The earliest barns were strictly for grain storage. Geographer John Fraser Hart has traced the root of the word to + , Anglo-Saxon for “barely place.” Old World farm buildings bereaern have always been rather small. The American barn, on the other hand, hearkens back to the “tithe barn” of the medieval church. Before the widespread use of currency, people paid their tithe or church tax in grain, usually to the local monastery or bishopric; tithe barns stored the taxes levied by the church. The tithe barn used familiar Gothic church-building construction techniques to provide the height and span necessary to protect the immense storage bins from the weather – and from the starving populace during hard times. The image of the Gambrel-Roof Barn th persists in the late-20 century popular culture. Clockwise from Upper Left: (1) Gambrel-Roof tool shed/workshop on a suburban back lot; (2) the VFW Post 8752 “Red Barn” clubroom and hall, 9260 East Pt. Douglas Rd.; (3) advertisement for general purpose metal utility building. Farmers leaving Europe for America probably harbored little affection for the tithe barn, but conditions in the New World gave a new relevance to the cathedral-like structure. The early colonists built small, European type granaries for threshing and storing their wheat and corn, and kept their animals and fodder in separate stables. Over the years, however New Englanders developed the large “three bay barn,” the first American Big Barn, where grain was stored in either or both ends of a one story building, with a central bay for threshing and two wide doors for ventilation. This “Yankee” or “English” barn was the prototype for the American barn that worked its way westward from New England to the Midwest in the 1800’s. Farm barn and hennery plan from Palliser’s Model Homes (1878). Note the traditional Yankee 3-bay plan and raised masonry basement. For the most part, by the time southeastern Minnesota had been settled, threshing was being done by machine, so that by the mid-1800’s, according to Hart, most of the old Yankee grain barns has been converted to all-purpose barns. This is because in areas like Minnesota, with it harsh winter climate, hay and livestock production assumed a greater importance than grain farming. In addition, German and Swiss farmers in Pennsylvania and New York, whose European ancestors has sheltered people, grain and livestock all under one great roof, provided practical examples of multi-purpose barns for animals and grain, which were readily adopted by their American neighbors. The old three-bay Yankee barn type persisted throughout the northeastern and Midwestern states into the twentieth century, but with some significant adaptations, the most common of which provided stalls for animals in one of the end bays, with space for storing grain n the opposite bay and a loft for hay, keeping the central threshing floor bay. During the reign of “King Wheat” (1860’s to 1880’s) a period of unsurpassed prosperity and growth for area farmers, the simple three-bay barn was the most common type. Over time, however, comparatively less space was devoted to grain storage, and on large grain farms, threshing and storage was often done in a separate granary building. When the King Wheat era ended, Midwestern farmers turned to a more diversified agriculture with dairying as its mainstay. (According to the “Late- Nineteenth Century Agricultural Expansion” historic context summarized in the Cottage Grove Comprehensive Cultural Resource Management Plan, dairy farming was transplanted vigorously to southern Washington County in the 1870’s and became dominant within a production shift on barn architecture: “Wheat did not require much in the way of storage. But the dairy farmer had to have airplane-hangar capacity to house the herds of cows, the fodder to feed them and the hay to bed them down.” On dairy farms, more room was needed to “store up enough feed for the nine-month siege of barren cold.” It was in the context of dairy farming that the cultural memory of the medieval tithe barn returned, filtered and refined by the big barn tradition of the Easter United States. As threshing became completely mechanized, the side opening of the Yankee three-bay barn gave way to end-on barn doors. Dairymen utilized the vaulting techniques of the medieval cathedral to raise storage space over the main floor of the barn, with a stone or masonry-walled basement level for livestock. Corn was the preferred feed for cattle and the suitability of dairying in the Midwest was underscored by the development of the silo, which made it possible to harvest corn early in season for silage. The typical Midwestern dairy barn was characterized by its masonry basement level, its wide, tall haymow, and a silo somewhere nearby. Milkhouses, small frame or masonry structures that jutted out from the ground level, were typically added to dairy barns. Banked barns used the rolling topography to provide access to barns on two levels. LOOKING AT BARNS: THE GABLE-ROOF FAMILY The easiest way to classify (and date) barns is by roof shape. Over the years, changes in construction techniques and materials have resulted in three generalized “families” of barn roof shapes: the Gable-Roof, the Gambrel-Roof, and the Arch-Roof. In Cottage Grove, as elsewhere throughout the Midwest, the oldest barns generally are specimens of the Gable-Roof Family. According to Hart, the gabled barn is the “oldest form, simplest to construct, and the most awkward to live with,” because of low headroom in the loft. Simple roof shapes were necessitated by post and beam construction, which used long, heavy timbers and planks. Examples of Gable- Roof Barns from Cottage Grove. Clockwise from Upper Left: (1) Okey Barn, 10301 Grey Cloud Tr.; (2) Wiechman Barn, 9451 Grey Cloud Tr.; (3) Radke Barn, 9770 Lehigh Rd. LOOKING AT BARNS: THE GAMBREL-ROOF FAMILY The shift to balloon frame construction allowed farmers to span greater areas under taller roofs by using the North European or “Dutch” gambrel roof shape (sometimes called a “hip” roof), the kind of roof most often associated with the American barn. A gambrel roof has two distinct roofs: a simple gable at the top, dropping to a break line, beneath which a second roof surface, with a different pitch, drops to the eaves. There are variations on the basic gambrel shape based on the pitch of the gables. The most important of these is the classic “Dutch Gambrel,” which combines large, emphatic flares along the eaves with a large, steeply pitched lower gable rising to a much smaller, low-pitched Examples of Gambrel- Roof Barns from Cottage Grove. Clockwise from Upper Left: (1) Nelson Barn, th 7350 100 St.; (2) Gordon Tank Barn, th 10478 80 St.; (3) Shingledecker Barn, 8239 Lamar Ave. upper gable. A wide, low-pitched gambrel may shelter only one story, while a narrow, steeply-pitched gambrel often covers a full two stories. Gambrel-Roof barns began to appear in Cottage Grove during the last three decades of the nineteenth century and continued to be built into the 1940’s. But most local examples were built during the period from around 1900 to 1920. Agricultural extension services and farm improvement magazines promoted gambrel roofs as the most economical way to increase storage space in barns being built to meet the needs of the growing dairy and feedlot industries. Thus, the Gambrel-Roof barn may often indicate recapitalization on the farm. The profitability of mixed farming in general and of dairy farming in particular, made it possible for large numbers of farmers to raise new barns that were “state of the art”. Examples of Arch-Roof Barns from Cottage Grove. Clockwise from Upper Left: (1) Vandenberg Barn, 7310 Lamar Ave.; (2) Windy Hills Barn, 7717 Keats Ave.; (3) Borner Barn, 8601 Lamar Ave. LOOKING AT BARNS: THE ARCH-ROOF FAMILY The last of the three roof families is the Arch-Roof shape. The rise of a class of professional barn builders around the turn of the century, combined with some innovations in construction methods, led to the introduction of the curved roof, which was widely viewed as a significant improvement over the gable and gambrel shapes. Arched roofs were not as prone to sagging as straight gable and gambrel roofs, and carried the gambrel concept farther in increasing head- room, especially in very large barns. “It doesn’t cost any more than the hip-roof [i.e., gambrel-roof] barn, and I think it looks better,” reported “J.B.”, a Morrison county correspondent to magazine in 1917; “There will be no posts The Farmer in the hay barn [i.e., the haymow]. The braces are on the side and entirely out of your way.” It is curious to note that the Arch-Roof shape has such a bewildering assortment of names. Most commonly, one sees it described as an “arch” or “oval” roof – a recent North Dakota agricultural engineering research report refers to “archroof” barns. Similarities with medieval revival architectural styles has lead others to refer to it as “Gothic-roofed” or “Gothic Arch roofed”. Finally, some echo the Morrison County farmer quoted above, who called it a “round roof” barn. (Truly round roofs, sometimes called “rainbow” roofs, are not uncommon; however, most were built after World War II and reflect construction techniques borrowed from the Quonset Hut.) Hart suggests that the heyday of the Arch- Roof barn was the 1940’s and 1950’s. We should not forget, however, that “J.B.” saw the Arch-Roof type as the barn of choice for Morrison County farmers in 1917. A cursory survey of The Farmer for the years 1917-1920 reveals advertisements promoting the Arch-Roof barn, offering standardized plans as well as lumber, “ready-framed” with “all framework cut to fit.” So, care should be taken in guessing the date of any Arch-Roof barn. THE BARNS OF COTTAGE GROVE In 1988-89, the City of Cottage Grove undertook a survey of agricultural buildings, which studied more than sixty traditional barns within the city limits. In general, the dating of these barns seemed to follow the historic pattern, with the Gable-Roof barns being the oldest and the Arch-Roof barns the youngest. Gable-Roof barns included single and multi-story buildings constructed either on- grade, or banked (i.e., built into the sides of hills) with raised basements. The oldest specimens featured fieldstone foundations and wide plank wall cladding, and generally showed their age in decaying siding, crumbling foundations, and sagging roofs. The Gambrel-Roof barns of Cottage Grove showed a wide variation in date of construction, materials, and decorative details. Most seem to date from the first two decades of the twentieth century. The survey noted that barns with foundations of “rusticated concrete block” (i.e., concrete block shaped to give the appearance of chipped stone) tended to date from the 1920’s, when that kind of masonry enjoyed its greatest popularity. Hollow tile block foundations were also popular during the early 1900’s and continued to be used on barns constructed in the 1940’s. The Arch-Roof barns also appeared to cover a significant span of the twentieth century, with many local examples dating from post-World War II. More than half of the farmsteads with traditional barns were found to have at least one, and sometimes as many as three or four, large brick or tile block silos. This is important, since silos indicate that the barns were used for dairying: beef cattle and horses are best fed grains, while silage is for dairy cattle. Hart suggests that any farmstead with one barn and one silo can generally be identified as a dairy barn, whereas a barn without a silo (but with grain bins or corn cribs nearby) indicates a feed producing operation. Such producers have historically proved the extra feed necessary for dairy and beef cattle operations. SAVING BARNS Writing in magazine, Robert A. Gibson relates the Historic Preservation story of a photographer asking Secretary of Agriculture Bob Berglund to stand in front of a traditional gambrel-roofed barn for a picture. “Why do you photographers always want a picture with this old barn in it?” asked Berglund, pointing to a large metal shed. “What I want is one of those.” Any farmer can tell you that the barn a non-farmer sees as a nostalgic reminder of an agricultural past is an obsolete relic on the modern farm. Late- twentieth century farming practices no longer require the imposing structures built fifty of one hundred years ago. This sad fact, coupled with the relentless outward spread of urban development, has caused the destruction of barns at an alarming rate. Eric Sloan, Eric Arthur and Dudley Witney originally sounded the alarm in their books, (1954) and American Barns and Covered BridgesThe Barn, A (1972). And although old barns are still Vanishing Landmark in North America disappearing almost daily, there have been some encouraging developments as well. The most noteworthy of these was the Barn Again! Campaign sponsored jointly by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Successful Farming magazine in 1987-88. Prizes were awarded for the best examples of refurbished barns – not museum pieces, but farm buildings displaying new, practical, and economical uses for old barns. In support of such efforts at barn rehabilitation, the agricultural engineering department of North Dakota State University published a research report in July, 1988, presenting sixteen examples of “old farm buildings that have outlived their original purpose [yet] can still be put to practical use.” But rehabilitation is not the only solution to the problem of what to do with old barns. When suburban growth eliminates the old farm, making agricultural reuse out of the question, the fate of the barn is usually sealed. But demolition of barns in urban areas is not longer a foregone conclusion, given some emerging trends in urban planning and development. Planners and real estate developers are finding other uses for these impressive structures: some have been converted to single family homes, condos, or apartments. Many suburban developments take their theme from the great barn left standing on the farmstead platted for tract houses, and developers have found new uses for old barns as commons areas, recreation centers, and storage space for boats and RV’s. (The barn on the old Tucker farm in Eden Prairie and the dairy barn in boulder Ridge development in Shorewood are good examples of this emerging trend in the Twin Cities area.) As cities expand over their surrounding farmlands, relic barns will be a recurring design challenge for architects and developers. The future of barns? Clockwise from Upper left: (1) Metal pole barn, McHattie farm, 9165 Military Rd.; (2) demolished barn, Kimbro Ave.; (3) Barn Again! Poster. Imagine the farmlands of Cottage Grove without any barns. Like Lake Superior without a ship to be seen, an engaging interest will have been lost. In the final analysis, it is the citizens of Cottage Grove, farmers and suburbanites alike, who hold the key to technical achievement which the work of the traditional barn-builders represents, the community might easily lost this important inheritance. But if barns are recognized as storehouses, not only of hay and cows, but of history, then action will be taken to give them new life and purpose. SOURCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Apps, Jerry and Allen Strang. The Barns of Wisconsin. Madison: Tamarack Press, 1977 Arthur, Eric, and Dudley Witney. The Barn, A Vanishing Landmark in North America. Greenwich CT: New York Graphic Society, 1972. Cottage Grove Comprehensive Cultural Resource Management Plan. Assembled by Robert C. Vogel. Cottage Grove: Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission, 1986. Farmer, The. Monthly agricultural magazine published in St. Paul since 1890. Gibson, Robert A. “Fighting for the American Farm.” Historic Preservation (April 1986). Glassie, Henry. Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968. Hart, John Fraser. The Look of the Land. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1975. Johnson, Dexter W. Using Old Farm Buildings. Agricultural Engineering Research Report No. 88-1. July 1988. North Dakota State University. Marling, Karal Ann. The Colossus of Roads: Myth and Symbol Along the American Highway. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984. Price, H. Wayne. “The Barns of Illinois.” Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society, Vo. XXX, No. 1 (Spring 1988). Ripley, LaVern. “The American Barn.” 12-part series in The Golden Nuggett (May-August 1977). Rosemount, Minnesota. Sloane, Eric. American Barns and Covered Bridges. New York: Wilfred Funk, 1954. Vogel, Robert C. Preliminary Inventory of Farmstead Architecture in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Cultural Resources Survey, Final Report, Vol. I. Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission, 1989.