Zwingle Barn, part of the Fall 2023 Iowa Barn Tour
State of Iowa fall barn 2023 tour
by John Busch, OBP Regional Representative for Middlesex, Elgin, Chatham-Kent, Essex, and Lambton
Iowa, Zwingle Barn
The first photo shows this long narrow barn, 100’ x 28’,with two access ramps to the upper floor. The barn was built in 1880 and the owner proudly displayed the work he has put into this barn on his own and with the assistance of Iowa Barn Foundation over the last 10 years.
He explained that the barn had actually moved laterally to the rear, and it appears it was the force of water and ice on the high side which caused this movement. His first challenge was to repair and perhaps reverse this damage before the barn collapsed. He had completed much of this work over the course of the ten years he has owned it, although he rented the land and the barn for numerous years prior to that date.
This barn, and others I have seen, use timbers which have been run through a saw mill. This is one of the few barns I saw with wooden pegs installed in the mortise joints.