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1952 Barn Building

J

JMS/.MN

Well-known Member
After posting a HM bale loader last week, some folks wanted other vintage pix- these are of our old and new barn in "52. Original barn was built in 3 sections, with 2 different haymow floor levels (foot difference). New block walls were laid through old wooden walls, cows got milked each day during construction, rafters nailed together from homesawed (cottonwood) lumber from our other farm, on the new haymow floor. Silo was lowered (that is a concrete roof) to stay inside the roofline...little frozen silage in winter with bales stacked around it. Gravity water system was fed by 3, 55 gallon tanks welded together. Last pic is the crew. I"m the short one- 8 years old. Brother, Dad, and blocklayers. Tire is "47 WC. (can"t you tell?) Completed barn pic is from early 60s, after the bunk feeder was built. That"s another story- Dad built it with a rubber tire drive system- similar to Ford rear mount cement mixer. Worked ok, except on frosty mornings.
oldbarn.jpg

barnwalls.jpg

rafterssilo.jpg

Belgradefarm.jpg

Belgradebarn-52.jpg
 
Keep them coming.

A few years ago we auctioned my grandparents farm and possessions near Ogilvie. We went through all of the pictures they had and not one single farming picture.

I really like seeing other peoples pictures. Maybe it helps me "imagine" what some of my families pictures would have been like.
 
Some of these were found only 2 weeks ago- like the ones of the bale loader. Don"t remember Mom ever taking them. I sent a description of the loader to the AC Upper Midwest collectors pub last year, but wish they could have included the pix. These barn pix I remember. New house was a similar project in "55, tore down most of the old one, saved the kitchen to keep the custom cabinets that were only a few years old. Old/new= eventual cracks. Folks thought later, why not just move the wall with cabinets into the new house- would have been in a better location, too. In 10 years they moved or rebuilt every building on the farm.
 
I remember the rafters going up- armstrong method. First one tied to the silo, others raised and braces added. 29 feet from ground to peak, 21 off the haymow floor. Lots of old boards re-used for roof, a few new ones near the top to finish off. I got paid a penny per board for pulling old nails out. It was a bribe to stay out of the way.
 
I have 1 picture from my other side of the family from Mora. My grandpa had a feed grinder mounted on a truck. I also have the book that he carried to record where he went and what he charged. The fun part about that was finding that he was grinding feed for my great grandpa. His father in-law.

Talking about the kitchen cabinets reminds me of when they remodeled my grandparens from Ogilvie's kitchen. We moved the old set into my mom and dad's basement. I was always fascinated with the flour drawer that was hinged on the bottom and tipped out. We used to store ice skates in there. They are still in my mom's basement.
 
I've got a question. How were/are the rafters bent? I don't see any inside frame work to make them bow that way but they are all falling into the same curve. They could'nt have been sawn that way.
 
Probably laminated rafters. Wood strips bent and glued together on a jig. We had a barn with rafters like that and someone said they came from a Minnesota company. Jim
 
Our barn was built in about 1950-51 by Lester's of Lester Prairie MN. They made lots of this style of rafters. If I remember correctly, they had a "special" band saw that they used to to the shapes out of a 1x6 or 1x8 board. The waste from the first cut was used on the next section of rafter. (Something like that, anyway...)
 
The Greatest Generation Made thiscountry complete !!!...YES I REMEMBER When this Country Was Flooded with GREAT AMERICAN willing MEN .... They raised their kids to do the same as them and inprove the World , not Create problems , Glad Most of them have gone to their Great reward and do Not See what this nation Has liberaLIES to become ... I think something went Wrong ...
 
It looks like a Rilco barn. They were made by the Rock Island Lumber Co and I think they were available as a kit. One was just torn down here in Southern NJ a few months ago.
 
Years ago they used to tie some corn squzinz in a bottle to the first rafter whe raised. The guy that climbed up and nailed the first couple rafters together got the bottle.

I have seen pictures of a barn, like the first picture that had very large plank --almost solid even with the bottom of the rafters so that fifty plus men could stand on the platform. They were later removed. I had always assumed they did everything from the hay mow floor.


Something I always wonderd about was when you went to the rock pile with a team, and a stone boat -- how many rocks did ya need for the barn walls. Ya sure as heck did not want to haul any extra.
 
Nice pictures JMS it sure brings back memories! If I remember right the old FHA home improvement loans would not let you build a new home but you could add on so several people in our area just closed in their porch and made a live in area took their baths and showers in the milkhouse and of course there was the old outhouse so they just built a house around the porch. Keep those pics comin. LOL
 
The rafters were made of three layers of one-inch boards, about 6 feet long, one side sawed with a slight curve. When laid together on the floor, there was either a line or a jig that they followed, and were nailed together. That was done about when school started, so I got very little time to watch, but do remember seeing them being put together. My uncle built the same year, but he bought ready-made rafters- he had better cows and could afford it, while we had our own cut timber.
 
Dad"s brother built the cabinets about 5 years before- was a good craftsman. Had the same type of flour bin that tipped out. He was the one who paid for his land with corn that turned liquid! Asked him in later years how to make a still- he was very matter of fact about explaining it to me. His "living history" is on record at the county museum in St. Cloud.
 
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