“As you look at the walls and roof, it’s amazing how these old barns were built,” said Terry Ferguson, who noted that George was a cousin of her husband, Craig’s, grandfather.

This barn was built in the midst of America’s golden age of agriculture (which spanned roughly 1897-1918). As America’s urban population expanded in the early 1900s, demand for farm products grew. Iowa farming shifted from subsistence agriculture to a major business enterprise defined by high levels of production, strong commodity prices and major investments in farm improvements.

Ceramic blocks offered a durable building option for barns in this era. The blocks were also larger than conventional bricks, which helped reduce construction time. Unique features of the Ferguson’s barn, which originally housed dairy cows and draft horses, include the curved block on the corners, and the haymow that is anchored with iron that’s visible on the outside.

There’s still a center hay-drop door in the haymow, although some parts of the barn have been modified. Cement feeders in the alley that once fed dairy cows remain, although gutters in the floor were filled with cement in the 1960s.

-Messenger photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
Terry Ferguson and Denver Ferguson stand near where the horses are feeding.

When Craig’s father, Marvin, raised hogs in the barn, steps to the haymow could be pulled up by a chain.

While the barn also housed sheep in years past, it has been used for raising beef cattle, too. Ferguson and her husband, Craig, who have lived on this Century Farm in Swan Lake Township since 1978, have four horses, including American paint horses and quarter horses, that live in the barn today.

The couple has worked hard to maintain the barn. Around 2003, a bad windstorm ripped off the cupola. “A guy by Marathon had a similar cupola, so we traded my husband’s Honda motorcycle for it,” Ferguson said.

Around 2003-2004, they hired Simpson Construction of Marathon to re-roof the barn.

The cupola was also replaced, and the barn was painted and tuckpointed, plus the foundation was stabilized.

Barns have long been important to Ferguson, who grew up on a farm near Sac City.

“I liked the barn on that farm,” said Ferguson, a family and consumer sciences teacher at Storm Lake High School. “Unfortunately, a tornado destroyed that barn around 1970.”

The Fergusons’ barn was included on the Iowa Barn Foundation’s All-State Barn tour for the first time in 2004. Visitors got to see the barn and the distinctive “conehead” corncrib nearby.

“The corncrib originally had a rounded roof, but when it needed repairs in the 1960s, the contractor installed the pointed roof,” Ferguson said.

Through the years, the barn and corncrib have been featured on a number of Iowa Barn Foundation tours, which attract visitors from across Iowa, as well as other states. The Ferguson’s barn was mentioned in a travel article in the Los Angeles Times about the 2015 All-State Barn Tour.

As time has passed, the barn’s exterior wood no longer holds paint. The couple plans to cover this area with steel siding. “The barn has evolved through the years, and we want to keep it in good shape,” Ferguson said.