With the temperature below zero this evening, livestock would appreciate a warm barn, even if it is in the shape of an octagon. This barn was built in 1893 in Sauk County of southwestern Wisconsin and the red color stands out against the summer greens as well as winter white but I prefer the green over the cold white.
Octagon Red Barn
This round barn, which is over 100 years old, may be enjoying sunshine today but may need to shed some water from the possible rain tomorrow.
Old Red Round Barn
Still standing proudly in the summer sunshine, this red round barn with its cupola and two pitch roof is celebrating 100 years.
Centennial Round Barn
With stones carefully selected for tight binding, little mortar was needed to build this stone round barn and with two feet thick walls, the expert fitted stonework resisted water, wind and weather. And with the strong winds creating below zero wind chills overnight, a warm snug barn would nice especially back in the days when cattle filled the barn.
The Annala Round Barn
The start of a new year is here, a day when many make resolutions for changes in their lives and make some new choices. Sometimes it is old things getting a new life or purpose, like this old round barn built in 1895, which was moved a half mile and set on a new cement base in 2006 and in 2012, new siding was added and given a bright coat of red paint. While the barn’s old life as a dairy barn ended in 1944, it has a new life as a historical site for education of agriculture for hands-on learning and museum as well as a gathering place for family celebrations.
New Life for Old Round Barn
Winter this year is like this barn, it just keeps going around and around and never ends with more ice and snow in April.
This twelve-sided barn with two small dormers, a cupola, and a two-pitch roof was built prior to 1925 and is showing some wear and tear.
Twelve-sided Barn
Round barns don’t have to be completely round to be classified as a round barn, as in this octagon barn in southwest Wisconsin. And it is hard to believe that this barn was built in 1893. It looks in great shape for 120 years old but it reflects the care of the farmers past and present who lived on this farm.
Octagon Barn
A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880–1920 represented the height of round barn construction, especially in the Midwest.
George Washington designed and built a sixteen-sided threshing barn at his Dogue Run Farm in Fairfax County, Virginia in 1793. It is considered the first American round barn.
Round barns were cheaper to construct than similar-sized square or rectangular barns because they required less materials. Agricultural colleges began to push the design in the 1880s as they taught progressive farming methods, based on the principles of industrial efficiency.
The spread of machinery, especially with the Rural Electrification program, eliminated the advantages of labor-saving designs that were more complicated to build, and the popularity of round barns faded.
The list of current round barns in Wisconsin show only this one in Washburn county and I was able to visit it this week with help of a relative driving me to it, so a special thanks to Roger for the fall driving tour pass the round barn which was built in 1918.
Washburn County Round Barn
