ALBION — Large, well-built barns once dotted the Indiana landscape as symbols of the agricultural industry and hardworking farm families. Each year, more of these barns disappear, replaced by modern construction or lost to storms, salvage crews and neglect.
Jill McDevitt, a board of directors member of the Indiana Barn Foundation since 2019, made the case for saving historic barns as the speaker for the Noble County Genealogy Society’s annual dinner last week.
McDevitt is a Noble County native and grew up on a farm. She holds a master of science degree in historic preservation from
The foundation partners with other organizations such as the National Barn Alliance and Indiana Farm Bureau, and offers Ball State University. She currently works in cultural resource management and has also worked at a historic preservation nonprofit. She, her husband and their three boys live in Whitley County.
“I always had a soft spot for barns,” McDevitt said.
The Indiana Barn Foundation is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its founding, McDevitt said. In 2013, there were 30,000 wood-constructed barns in Indiana. In a decade, 10,000 of these barns have been lost.
The foundation’s mission is to support the preservation of Indiana’s historic barns, with the vision “to raise the awareness of threatened Indiana barns, to increase public and private support of preservation. To encourage the stewardship of historic barns, and to attain signi?cant ?nancial resources to achieve these goals.” educational resources, expertise, grants and tax credits toward preservation, and ongoing research and documentation of these historic structures.
McDevitt explained some of the architectural parts of barn construction such as a “bent,” a combination of posts, tie beams, rafters and other pieces that establishes the shape of the barn. Most barns were built in the 19th century and early 20th century to harvest and store grain, shelter livestock or store hay.
McDevitt shared information about the common barn styles found in Indiana and offered examples of heritage barns in Noble County. She explained the architectural style and functions of the English barn, Midwest three-portal barn, bank or basement barns, which are very common in northeast Indiana; the German-influenced Pennsylvania and Sweitzer barns, Wisconsin dairy barn, traverse-framed barns, and round or polygonal barns.
McDevitt said barn styles and features were modified according to the needs of farmers. Construction materials also changed, depending on what materials were available.
“There was a lot of innovation and patents for round barns,” she said.
Round and polygonal barns grew in popularity because they have self-supporting roofs unobstructed by posts in the interior, McDevitt said. Octagonal barns were popular from 1850 to 1900, with true circular barns built from 1889 through 1939.
A central silo in a round barn made it convenient to feed livestock, she said. A 16-sided barn was built in 1911 in Noble County near Ligonier, and is the only one left of its kind. The barn has many windows and the upper level is a hay mow.
A survey of barns in DeKalb, Benton, Scott and Jefferson counties was conducted in 1975 by the Indiana Junior Historical Society in cooperation with the Society of Indiana Pioneers. McDevitt said barns in Noble County were surveyed and documented in late 1980.
In response to questions, McDevitt said that the design of the restored Sylvan Cellars barn, now an event venue, was likely influenced by the Wisconsin dairy barn style. Barns were most often painted in red or white because those colors were readily available for lead paint. A large, well-maintained barn also signaled to the community that the farmer was successful and prosperous.
The dinner and program is an annual event for the Noble County Genealogical Society, founded in 1982 to further interest in genealogy and family history, and make history available to everyone. The society has documented all cemeteries in Noble County, publishes a quarterly newsletter, and maintains a genealogy room at the Noble County Public Library in Albion.