School Mulls Tearing Down Old Yellow Barn On Ind. 15
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Built in 1937, the yellow barn by Warsaw Community High School, along Ind. 15, may be in its last year.
"We're actively looking at plans now. Our goal is to have the barn gone by the time snow flies," said Greg Schroeder, Warsaw Community School Corp. director of maintenance.
Once the barn is gone, he said, there are no plans to put any new structure in the barn's place.
The barn will be one of the topics covered during the Warsaw School Board's work session Tuesday at 9 a.m.Schroeder provided a tour of the barn Thursday morning. He estimated it to be 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
"It's not a post and beam barn, so it's not like it's 100 years old, I don't think," he said.
Information provided by Becky Richard, Kosciusko County Assessor's Office, shows the barn was built in 1937. Its current assessed valuation is $15,900. The silo was added on to the barn in 1938. Its assessed valuation is $2,300.
While information on the original builder of the bank barn was not readily available through the county auditor's office, the barn was transferred to Warsaw Community Schools in 1982. On May 17, 1983, it was transferred to Warsaw School Building Corp. It then was transferred to Warsaw High School Building Corp. on June 23, 1996.
Schroeder said he believed the school corporation may have received the barn from Frank and Irene Saemann. Auditor's office records indicate the Saemanns did own the property prior to their deaths. Howard Woodward's name then appears in the record books before the property is transferred to WCS.
The school corporation uses the barn now just for general storage for grounds equipment. Most of the space is home to either tractors, shingles, posts or other items. The only part of the barn not used for storage is the 30- to 35-foot silo.
Schroeder said part of the ongoing discussion is where to house the equipment and materials after the barn is gone.
At one time, WCS housed old and obsolete equipment in the barn. Once enough stuff was collected, the equipment would be auctioned off. The last couple of auctions, however, started to cost WCS more money than they made, so the auctions were halted.
"That freed up space to store grounds equipment. We've always had some purpose for it," Schroeder said.
Outside and inside, the barn is starting to show its age. Schroeder said they now only do minimal maintenance to the structure.
Barely visible on the front of the barn, above the doors, are the words City's Edge Farm. While it had electricity at one time, Schroeder said, there has not been electricity used in it since WCS owned it.
Inside the barn, the ceiling is high. The upper part of the barn would have been where the hay and straw were stored, so the high ceiling provided plenty of space to stack the hay.
"The foundation is really starting to go on it," Schroeder said. "We have it braced up below. If we didn't do that, I think it would go."
Looking around the barn, he said, you can see it's starting to deteriorate.
Down the stairs is the lower half of the barn. That's where the farmer did the milking. Shingles for Harrison and Eisenhower roof repair are stored nearby. Harrison and Eisenhower are the only Warsaw schools with shingles.
Besides equipment stored down there, up to a dozen barn swallows have made their nests. They fly about, chirping to keep people out of their nests built on beams. It's easy to find the nests just by eyesight or wherever there is a large quantity of bird droppings.
Past the food and manure troughs, there's a room where the farmer used to store cold milk until it could be transported. The room now stores posts.
The wood of the barn looks like it's pretty sound, Schroeder said. One person has approached WCS about dismantling the barn instead of demolishing it to save the wood. If anyone wants to dismantle the barn for the wood, at no cost to the school corporation, Schroeder said they can contact him.
"We'd hate to just tear it down. There's a lot of good wood in it," he said. "... All in all, the wood is in really good shape. Just the foundation is bad."
The foundation is field stone. Like the roof, it's coming apart. A piece of the roof disappeared last spring or winter, Schroeder said. The roofer is no longer comfortable with climbing on top of the barn to fix the roof.
