Contact:
Dave Austin
iowabarnfoundation@gmail.com
Iowa Barn Foundation 2023 Spring Tour to be Held in Van Buren County
The Iowa Barn Foundation is holding their annual spring barn tour in Van Buren County June 24-25. The self-guided tour is free and open to the public. Barns will be open for touring 9-5 on Saturday and Sunday except where noted. Morris Park will serve as the tour hub with lunch available for purchase on Saturday from 11-2:00 (see details below). There will be activities for visitors of all ages both days.
Van Buren County has a trove of classic barns that span 180 years of Iowa history. Many are still in active use. The county is well known for its bank barns, but it also boasts many splendid examples of sprawling western barns, picturesque saltboxes, gambrel-roofed cattle barns, and eye-catching round barns. In addition to Morris Park, there will be 13 barns to tour inside and out, including two rare round barns. The barns will be open to visitor both days (except where noted) with an a host on site to greet visitors and answer questions.
Morris Park Farm Museum, 10938 Timber Rd, 4 miles northeast of Stockport
The park features a replica turn of the century barn, which houses a large collection of antique farm equipment. Activities include displays on barn preservation, barn construction techniques, horse drawn wagon rides, naturalist educational displays, rug weaving, and more activities still being added.
Schuyler and Isabella Morris Barn (Morris-Clark Barn), 27882 107th St, 2 miles north of Stockport
A fine English barn built in 1916, unusual for canted cupolas and interior vertical supports that run to the roof, eliminating the needs for large struts. It is also known as the Morris-Clark barn because of three generations of Clark ownership and preservation.
Frank and Katie Cramlet Barn, 11256 Route V64, 3 miles north of Douds
A rare round barn designed and built by Louden Machinery Company of Fairfield, a manufacturer with a nationwide market in farm equipment. Constructed in 1921, it has lost its tall cupola but has otherwise been meticulously restored.
Charles and Bess Bogle Barn, 17248 Hwy 1, 5 miles north of Keosauqua (open on Sunday only)
A turn-of-the-century bank barn which was recently moved to a new foundation, restored, and returned to its original red color. In lieu of a cupola, both floors vent through louvered windows at the ends.
Marshall and Mary Myers Barn, 807 Country Road, Keosauqua
A magnificently sited bank barn at the northern edge of town in the 1880s. At one time offering a stagecoach stop as well as running a farm, the Myers put up travelers in rooms with hay above and animals milling about below.
Henry and Elizabeth Grages Barn, 23535 Osage Ave., 4 miles southwest of Keosauqua
An 1870s Pennsylvania bank barn with a basement open from the rear for sheltering animals. Henry was a German immigrant and Civil War veteran, marrying and bringing his wife to Iowa in the early 1870s to raise corn, cattle, sheep, and 10 children.
Rigsby Hill Barn, 22053 Hwy. 1, immediately south of Keosauqua
Built by the Walker brothers around 1870, but now more familiarly known as the Parsons barn for the three generations of Parsons that ensued. It is a classic Pennsylvania barn, but also a saltbox because of the protruding forebay at the rear.
A. J. Zook & Yoder Barns, 26318 and 26417 205th St. at Pine Trail, Keosauqua, 1.5 miles north of Bentonsport
An eye-catching pairing of an eclectic World War I-era barn with a spacious new barn across the road, showing that the gambrel-roof form is still very much alive. It is particularly noteworthy for combining pegged timbers with a poured concrete foundation, suggesting that it may have been moved onto its present site. The new barn has been beautifully outfitted for housing Percheron horses and the family’s wagons and buggies.
Henry and Millie Westergreen Barn, 19871 W30 (Spruce Ave.) at 200th St., 3 miles northeast
of Bentonsport
A large gambrel cattle barn built during World War I at the southeast corner of what was then a 600-acre farm. Framed in an unusually elaborate manner to hold together the wide spread of the gable, it retains its hay trolley track just under the ridge.
Barker Barns, 17050 Peach Ave (west side of road), 5 miles northeast of Keosauqua
A pair of English barns built by father and son in 1860 and 1870. Both barns have their peculiarities, the older for a massive central silo, the newer for a basement partially open to the rear, edging it toward the Pennsylvania type.
Elm Cove (James and Anna Clark) Barn, 26581 Route J16, west of Stockport
A well-appointed gambrel bank barn erected around 1914. It incorporates salvaged, hand-hewn timbers with milled lumber and has horizontal siding rather than the conventional board-and-batten.
Warren Brown Round Barn, 12698 Pearl Ave., 3 miles southwest of Birmingham
A small but elegant round barn built of hollow tile manufactured in nearby Stockport. Used as a milking barn, the cattle stood in stalls around the perimeter, with the hay loft above accessed via a dropdown ladder.
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Exterior view of the Cramlet Round Barn
See full tour details online at: www.iowabarnfoundation.org/barn-tour/2023-spring
The Friends of Morris Park will be hosting a lunch to fund Morris Park projects on Saturday from 11-2, and advanced reservations are recommended. Purchases made at the event will be cash only. The lunch will include a Maid-Rite sandwich, chips, side dish, dessert, and drink. Please send a donation of $12 per
person with checks made out to “Friends of Morris Park” to the following address by June 15: Dorothy Gilbert, 23916 Rte J 16, Stockport, IA 52651. Purchases can also be made online at:
iowabarnfoundation.org/product/2023-spring-lunch
Please email iowabarnfoundation@gmail.com with any questions.
Website: www.iowabarnfoundation.org
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Email – iowabarnfoundation@gmail.com