Meyer/Schares

History

This barn is unique because it uses the old construction style of post and beam construction. This is evident in many of the pictures that follow. Additionally, the roof on this barn is a gambrel shape, but it is not produced by modern trusses. Instead, the posts and beams create the shape. You can see this below in the photos of the barn’s loft.

This barn was constructed sometime before the other barn in this yard – before 1920. Lloyd Meyer believes that, at one time, the owners were going to make the barn larger with an expansion to the north. That is why, he says, the barn is almost as wide as it is long. It is likely that the Schares Family had a hand in building this barn because Christina Schares homesteaded this property.

Meyer, Lloyd. Personal communication. 14 Jun. 2016.

This frame shows the south face of the barn.

The east face of the barn.

The north face of the barn. This would have been where the expansion of the barn would have occurred.

This frame was taken while going through the door on the eastern side of the barn. The barn has a concrete foundation, a dirt floor, and wooden guides for the door.

The south wall of the barn is where the ladder to climb into the loft is installed.

This frame shows the south half of the stalls. This barn was largely open with only three or four stalls at a time. The posts used to construct this barn are vertical logs.

One of the stalls on the south side was retrofitted to give the farmer a place to tend to cattle using a head gate.

This frame shows the northern half of the barn.

This frame is a nice close up of the techniques used in post and beam construction. This frame was taken above the sliding door on the west side of the barn.

Notice the pencil lines on the beam.

There are many different types of halter holders. This design is very simplistic but does the job very well.

The south face of the barn has doors for throwing hay out of the loft and into the feeding troughs below. Two sets of ladders were installed to allow access to the loft from outside.

This frame shows a bale elevator going into the loft from the west side of the barn.

This frame shows the door on the south face of the barn. This door opens up into the northern stall with the cattle gate.

Inside the loft the square bales that are brought up by the elevator can be stacked and stored.

The gambrel roof beams are supported by posts since there are no trusses.

This frame shows the loft’s hay rack machinery that is installed in the peak of the roof. The pulley system, the track, and the loft door are visible. Someone put a metal wire through the pulley to keep the loft door shut.

This frame shows a view of the trapdoor that is in the loft and leads to the ladder to the ground level. There are a few holes in the loft floor that allow hay to be thrown down to the ground floor. With all the hay covering the doors, one must be careful where they step.

This frame was taken from the west loft door on the south end of the barn looking out into the yard. The ladder that one must climb down can be seen slightly in the bottom right corner of the frame. Luckily, there is a bit of a fence on the ground to separate “man from beast”.