Weller

History

Jerry Weller’s grandfather moved to the property in 1907 and built the barn around 1915. The story goes that Jerry’s grandfather built the barn himself even before the family’s first house was built. The original layout of this barn was almost identical to the Feddema barn. After recent renovations, this barn got a new lease on life.

Originally, the east side of the barn housed dairy cattle from the time when Jerry was young until 1974. The family sold their cream to the creamery in Daysland. The Wellers used to store loose hay in the barn in the early 1960s before they got a bale elevator for square hay bales. This barn did not originally have an actual loft. Loose hay was instead stored in the open-air walkway between the two sides of the barn. The west side of the barn housed the family’s draft horses up until machinery came to the farm in the late 1950s. Around the early 1970s, the family restored the foundation on the west side of the barn. They also renovated the western side of the barn for pigs.

The Weller’s barn used to have wrought iron stanchions and stalls for the cattle. Most of these are now long gone but they were quite a sight to behold even when the barn was new. Wrought iron was beautiful but it was also a luxury few could afford at the time of construction. Most historical barns have a hay carrier for transporting loose hay into the barn. However, the Weller barn also had a litter carrier to aid in cleaning the barn of manure. Louden litter carriers were the first litter carrier even patented.

The east side of the barn had its’ foundation restored in 1995. That was the year the family had most of the barn renovated on the inside and when metal roofing/siding was installed. It was also at this point that the Wellers had the eastern side of the barn renovated. These renovations turned the barn into a garage for tools and a butchery. Even today, the Wellers use the eastern half of the barn as a station to butcher pigs for the Heisler Elk’s Club. The family stopped raising pigs in 2005.

Weller, Jerry. Personal communication. 24 Jun. 2016.

This frame shows the western broad side and the northern face of the barn. All of the stall windows and doors that used to open to the outside were covered up after the barn was renovated in 1995.

This frame shows a close up of one of the barn’s metal ventilators. This barn is large enough that it needs two ventilators.

This frame shows the east side of the barn’s roof.

The foundation for this barn had to be replaced since its’ original construction. Before pouring started, the whole side of the barn had to be lifted and supported.

This frame shows more of the eastern side of the roof and a portion of the southern face of the barn.

The southern face of the barn still has the small door that could have been used for hay bales. The door on the left goes into the western set of stalls that is now the old pig pen. The right door leads into the shop area inside the barn.

The western side of the barn used to be used for pigs up until 2005.

This frame shows the pig pens inside the barn.

The eastern side of the barn is now a shop. This frame shows the tool bench inside.

This frame shows the middle of the barn, which used to be an open area used for storing hay. Now, the shop area can be used as a wash bay (because the Wellers had a drain put in when they lifted the barn to restore the foundation) and a meat processing station. In the back of the shop, the Wellers have their equipment that they use for making pork sausage with the Heisler Lions Club.

Once you step up into the “attic space” above the shop, the space looks much more like a traditional barn. The framing and parts of the hay rack are visible.

This frame shows the metal track for the hay carrier that sits in the peak of the barn’s roof.

This frame shows the loft space above the pig pens (the western set of stalls). The space would have been used to store square bales back before the barn was renovated.