Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The date carved into the southwest corner of the building reads 1884. Soon the cornerstone and the rest of the foundation will be all that's left of the 110-foot by 40-foot Hauth barn on CR 225S, just east of Packerton Road.
Ernest and Merl Hauth bought the 90-acre farm in 1948. One of the first things Ernest did was make repairs to the then-62-year-old structure, adding doors and putting on a new roof.
The barn housed hogs and cattle and stored plenty of hay over the years.
After all that work, he hated to just let it deteriorate, was reluctant to burn it and dreaded the thought of a good wind bringing it down.
So he talked to an Internet-savvy grandson who put the word out on the Web: Anyone interested in tearing down an old barn?
Bob Hennessey of Back Roads Lumber Inc., Placerville, Colo., certainly was, along with a few other companies. After many telephone conversations and a visit to Kosciusko County, a deal was struck and a date set to bring the barn down.
Wednesday, Steve Griggs, his brother, Roger, and mother, Sarah, began the process of tearing the old barn apart, board by board, beam by beam - a job they do throughout the Midwest until the weather gets too cold for the native Californians to take.
"We recycle everything we can," said Steve Griggs Friday. "The tin and sheeting is sold. We denail, sweep down, pressure spray and bundle all the wood."
Back Roads Lumber doesn't have a particular buyer for this particular barn-loan of wood, but the Griggses figure there will be a market.
"Plenty of people want a hand-hewn beam holding up their roof," Sarah said. She's the chief denailer and wood inspector. One assumes she also keeps her sons in line.
This is the fifth barn the Griggses have worked on this year, and there are more lined up - enough to keep them busy into the fall.
The recycling company doesn't charge people to take the barns down, and sometimes they pay for the pleasure. Steve Griggs declined to say what type of arrangement had been worked out with the Hauths.
Not just any barn will do, however. Since the Griggses began working, they've collected the addresses of four more candidate barns in the area. Hennessey will be along later this summer to make decisions about which to disassemble.
Steve took apart his first barn in Ohio a few years ago.
"In Ohio, they are burning old barns," he said. "The liability insurance for them is more than the cost of a new barn. In Indiana, you're taxed for every building you own.
"This is history," he said looking up to the 35-foot-high peak. "I fell in love with these old barns."
Merl Hauth said she's never seen a family work together so well.
She and her husband, both in their eighth decade, have been married 62 years and have lived in the house east of the barn for many years.
Now they live in the single-story brick house to the west and still have 15 acres of their original farm.
"I have mixed emotions about bringing it down," Merl said.
Down it's coming, though. The Griggses will probably be at the site for another month, bundling history board by board.
