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The warm rains drench the earth in spring color as I drive the country roads of rural Illinois. As the flowers bloom in yellow and pink in the farm fields, I notice the grass growing greener around the red barns and white farmhouses. As seasons come and go, the fields and farmsteads seem to be an unchanging part of the American landscape. But, as with all things American, the winds of change are blowing down the wooden-framed farms of yesteryear. The fertile soil of the American Midwest now grows a bumper crop of houses and mini-malls.
Barns are a symbol of America’s heritage; carving a life from a plot of land was the stuff dreams were made of in the 1800s and barns are a visible link with that past. It would be hard to imagine the American landscape without the presence of barns. Indeed, even the American language is peppered with references to the barn, like “big as a barn” or closing one’s barn door. But this piece of history is fading from the landscape, pushed out by ever-sprawling suburbs. Americans have moved off the farms, and the barns were grew up with are disappearing.
These wonderful big buildings would keep the farmers’ precious equipment safe, and his livestock warm and dry. Barns were often painted red because the oxide-pigmented paint was cheapest in the 19th century; houses got the more expensive white paint.
Farm building construction has changed from the familiar old red barns to the newer metal buildings because farms themselves have changed. When many of these barns were built in the 1800s, farmers often raised a wide variety of livestock as well as one or two cash crops. These barns of yesteryear were built with doors wide enough for cows and plows to pass through, but the entrances are not nearly wide enough for today’s extra-large farm equipment.
This means that many antique barns are obsolete and left unused. Busy farmers generally do not have a lot of time or money to pour into empty buildings, so the barns fall into disrepair. Although an unloved barn might look rustic on a scenic drive, it is safety hazard and waste of tax money. Farmers are then faced with the difficult decision between spending lots of money to preserve the old barn, or to tear it down and put up a new building made of materials guaranteed to last a lifetime.
The key to preservation is the roof. A roof can cost up to $50,000 to replace. It is often cheaper to replace the entire barn with a modern building than to repair the roof of an existing barn.
Those who do restore an old barn often pay higher property tax after the restoration. Many farmers prefer to bulldoze old barns as a solution to tax problems. Often, old barns are harvested for their lumber. A barn raised in the 1800s or before was made from lumber that grew for centuries. Today, trees are not allowed to grow to full maturity before being sawed down, therefore the milled lumber is not as straight and strong with the tight grain that older timber provides. This old barn wood is being sold for two to five times
more than new wood.
Antique farm items are hot these days. Much of the barn hardware is sold on eBay or through other outlets to city-dwelling buyers trying to give their suburban homes a rustic appearance. It is ironic that barns are being torn down and auctioned off to the very people who cherish them.
There are roughly 3 million barns in the United States today. Many of these are not the wooden structures we associate with barns; a high percentage were built after WWII and are made of lightweight poles and metal siding. There is no way to know what percentage of the original wooden barns still stand; some states and preservation societies are working hard to identify all the remaining antique barns.
The next time you are enjoying the country scenery, take a moment to reap the beauty of barns dotting the hillsides and the prairies. Say goodbye to those lovely wooden structures that housed the dreams of Americans for so many generations.
CameraWare
