Lewis Round Barn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Lewis Round Barn
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 Location in Illinois
Location in the United States
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| Location | Adams County, Illinois |
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| Nearest city | Mendon, Illinois |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1914 |
| Architect | Lambert Huber |
| Architectural style | Round barn |
| MPS | MPL001 - Round Barns in Illinois Thematic Resources |
| NRHP reference No. | 02001750 |
| Added to NRHP | January 29, 2003 |
The Lewis Round Barn is a really cool and historic building located in Mendon, Illinois, in northwestern Adams County. It's special because it's one of only 14 round barns officially recognized in Illinois. This unique barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2003, showing how important it is to history.
Contents
A Barn Like No Other
Building a Dream Barn
Back in the early 1900s, a farmer named Charles E. Lewis needed a huge barn for his many cattle and hogs. He heard about some round barns at the University of Illinois and was super interested! He liked how efficient they were. Lewis wanted an even bigger round barn than any built in the Midwest at that time.
He chose 40 acres (16 ha) of land covered with trees from his father's estate. This land had many large elm and oak trees. In the fall and winter of 1911, Lewis set up a portable sawmill there. He hired men to cut down the trees and turn them into lumber. The lumber was then stacked to dry in the air.
Lambert Huber, a well-known carpenter, was hired to design and build the barn. Even though he had never built a round barn before, he took on the challenge. Construction couldn't start until 1914, after all the wood was completely dry.
The Unique Roof and Silo
Building this barn was tricky, even for a round barn. The roof was designed to be a self-supporting dome, meaning it didn't need extra poles inside. This saved space and made the barn more open. The roof rafters were reinforced at each joint for strength.
The project began by digging trenches for the concrete foundation. These footings would hold up the outer, circular wall. A 24-foot (7.3 m) circle was marked out for the silo and the feeding area around it.
A 40-foot (12 m) tall silo was built with an 18-foot (5.5 m) diameter. It was made from knot-free Douglas fir wood. The barn's outside walls were made of white pine, and the roof had long shingles from Western red cedar. Almost all the wood for the barn came from Lewis's own property, except for the shingles and siding.
Raising the Massive Roof
Once the concrete foundations were ready, the dome-shaped roof could be put up. The huge rafters, each 50 feet (15 m) long and made of heavy wood, were put together on the haymow floor. The hardest part was lifting them into place.
Workers built a 46-foot (14 m) tall scaffold from the haymow floor. A 10-foot (3.0 m) wide circular wooden ring, made in a carpentry shop, was placed on top of the scaffold. These steps helped, but there weren't enough workers to lift the massive beams.
An old horse named "Old Kit" helped solve this problem! Using ropes, pulleys, and a boom pole, Old Kit slowly lifted each rafter into place. Each rafter was then nailed to the barn's top ring. As the roof started to take shape, workers worried about strong winds. Luckily, no strong winds came until the entire roof was finished. A small cupola roof with a lightning rod was added to the very top. A weather vane shaped like a steer, said to be covered in gold leaf, was placed on top of that.
After the barn was finished, the carpenter, Lambert Huber, said he had lost a lot of sleep figuring out all the details. Even though he thought the barn was a huge success, he said he would never build another round barn!
Saving the Barn: Moving Day!
The barn served its purpose for many years, but time started to wear it down. In the late 1950s or early 1960s, the weight of the cupola caused part of the roof to sag. The cupola was removed, and the hole was shingled over. Eventually, the entire roof was re-shingled.
Later, five of the Lewis brothers and a cousin worked together to make more repairs. They had to jack up part of the barn and replace a major foundation buttress with new concrete. Window openings were covered with plexiglas, and a cable was put around the outside of the barn to stop it from spreading. The Lewis family realized the barn needed ongoing care to last.
So, the family donated the barn to the Adams County Olde Tyme Association. This group came up with a very bold idea: move the barn!
The Big Move
The association suggested moving the barn 25 miles (40 km) away to a new spot near the Adams County Fair Grounds. The barn's importance was clear when the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency gave a $150,000 grant to help move and restore it. Many people thought the association was crazy to believe a nearly 100-year-old building could be moved successfully. But the project went ahead!
In early 2000, a group of Amish carpenters was hired, and work began. They carefully removed two layers of old shingles from the roof. Then, they cut the roof into many pie-shaped pieces with chain saws. The haymow and the outside walls were taken apart and moved to the new location. Only the silo was left standing at the original site.
The association hired a crane to lift the entire silo and lay it down on a flatbed truck trailer. A heavy-duty farm tractor then pulled the silo down a hill. As the tractor started up the next hill, the silo looked like it might collapse! So, the tractor stopped, and the silo was chained to a tree overnight. The Amish carpenters reinforced the silo's bracing. The next day, the silo was slowly pulled over gravel country roads to its new site. The State of Illinois would not allow it on concrete State Highways.
Rebuilding at the New Site
At the new location, the walls were put back up. High winds almost ruined the whole project when the walls blew down before they could be made stable. This was similar to the worries the original builders had almost a century earlier! When the walls fell, they also damaged some of the first rafters. It looked like the project was doomed.
However, it wasn't! The walls were put back up, and the project continued. When the roof was finished, a new replica cupola was installed on top. The entire project was a total success!
