While legislators go round and round, historical barn suffers – SaukValley.com

KEWANEE (AP) Shafts of light stream in from dozens of cracks in the roof of the historic Ryan's Round Barn, but this isn't just any barn where time and the elements are taking their toll.

It's a state, and national, treasure and one that's at the mercy of the state's budget battle.

Located in Johnson-Sauk Trail State Park off state Route 78 between Annawan and Kewanee, the barn was built in 1910 by Dr. Laurence Ryan, a Henry County native who became chief surgeon at St. Anthony Hospital in Chicago.

At 61 feet tall and 74 feet in diameter, it's the largest round barn in Illinois. Its interior has three-and-a-half levels and a central silo, four gambrel dormers spaced evenly around the edge, and a cupola at the top. Ryan wanted a place in Henry County to be a retreat for his family. He built the barn for a "new" breed of cattle he had heard about in Scotland: Black Angus.

Ryan died in 1932, and an Annawan banker sold his farm to the state in 1968. The barn was among a number of buildings the state had slated for demolition until the Friends of Johnson Park came together to preserve it.

In 1974, the barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ten years later, it was re-roofed with original-style wooden shingles. After more than 30 years later, the barn roof needs work again.

Three years ago, estimates put the cost of the roof at $201,000 to $245,000, depending on whether asphalt or wooden shingles were used.The type of shingles needed "depends on who you talk to," said Steve Christian, president of Friends of Johnson Park Foundation.

"I love barns and I love history," said Christian, now retired.

Christian said that when state candidates campaigned in 2014, the group was told Illinois didn't have funds for the roof work. A lack of a state budget in 2015 brought the re-roofing effort to a halt, a story that's much the same today as legislators languish in a budget deadlock in Springfield.

The barn's interior is basically sound, although the siding holds moisture from the leaking roof and has started to deteriorate. The leaks also have caused some rotting in the hay mow in the loft.

"It creates havoc with everything that's underneath it or everything that touches it," he said.

Christian's group explains to visitors that the barn is not a multi-side structure appearing to be round. Instead, the structure was made with 16-foot lengths of pine soaked in water and bent to shape. Even large interior beams are bent, with five one-inch boards laminated together to form the beams.

As for why the barn is round, Christian said that while it was more expensive to build, the barn was labor-saving in the long run. One man with a pitchfork could feed 50 cattle with little movement. However, the advent of tractors and evolving farm machinery eventually made round barns obsolete, he said.

"You can't bring a tractor in and turn it around," he says.

While the barn may not attract crowds as large as the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Christian said the landmark "holds its own." More than 1,000 visitors go through the barn tours each year.

"We draw a pretty good size crowd here, and we have people from all over the world," he said. On June 3, that crowd included visitors from California and Puerto Rico.

The barn also could use new paint. A 2004 estimate put the cost of that at $3,200, a price that's only gone up since then. The Friends have set aside money from tour fees to repaint the barn this summer, but they worry even that project might not happen. They still need approval from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and haven't gotten it yet, even more bad news for the barn.

Landmarks Illinois, a preservation non-profit group, this year named the barn as one of 10 endangered historic entities in the state. While the friends group tackles smaller barn projects, such as repairing metal flashing at dormer windows, the roof work is beyond their abilities, or their pocketbook.

"We can handle window replacement," Christian said. "But at a $2 donation, we cannot come up with a quarter-million dollars to put a roof on.

"Our hands are tied," he said. "We can't do anything until we get a budget."

View original post here:
While legislators go round and round, historical barn suffers - SaukValley.com