Out of Date in 1898
By Pete Shortridge
Big,
red multipurpose barns once defined the essence of the Midwest. But
as they fall into disuse and their owners die, it is increasingly difficult
to understand how they were built and used.
The Turner family barn provides an exception.
William "Tom" Turner hired Arthur Clifton in 1898 to
erect a classic barn on his farm in Johnson County, Kansas. His descendants
still live there at the corner of 199th Street and Moonlight Road.
Turner's barn contains two levels: an open loft for
hay and a main floor for the stabling of horses and cattle. These features
are standard. The way these levels were designed and accessed, however,
was a little out of date in 1898. Most barns built after 1900 load hay
into the loft from the outside. They employ a mechanical carrier system
suspended from the ridgepole. At the Turner farm, workers forked the
hay up by hand from a wagon that was pulled into the barn through the
diamond-patterned doors on its long sides. It was hard work. Newer barns
also tend to be narrower than Turner's 40-foot design and to have a
higher, two-pitched roof. (Such roofs are self-supporting, meaning that
there are no interior braces for hay workers to hit their heads and
shins on.) Again, the reason was hay. A higher, narrower barn was easier
to fill using the mechanical system.
A central passage, 60 feet long, served as a feeding
alley for the barn's stables. This can be entered from either gable
end. The small doors at the corners lead to side alleys through which
workers removed manure. Quality is apparent throughout the barn. Turner
even imported cypress lumber from Louisiana to use as siding.
Pete Shortridge is a KU professor of geography.
