Wylie House Barn
History
Little did we dream when we began planning in 2003 for a new education center that we might end up with another historic structure on site, but that is precisely what has happened and we are more than thrilled! A barn built here in Monroe County between 1863 and 1869 was dismantled and reassembled here on site. The interior has been refitted to serve as offices and education/meeting space. Neidigh Construction and Kirkwood Design Studio, two Bloomington firms, teamed up to make this happen for us. Larry Neidigh, owner of Neidigh Construction, owned the barn when this project started and made it available as part of his bid and design proposal. The beautiful old hand-hewn posts and beams are exposed on the interior of the reassembled barn and the poplar siding that was originally on the outside, is now on the interior of the building so that visitors will be able to see the old wood.
The original Wylie homestead comprised 20 acres of land, purchased in 1829 - 1830. (An additional 205 acres were purchased before 1850.) It was a working farm on the edge of what was then the village of Bloomington. We know that Andrew and Margaret had a barn, chicken coop, outhouse, smokehouse, ice house and probably other buildings to support their activities. Even in the second half of the century when Theophilus and Rebecca Wylie lived here with their family on just 5 acres there were several outbuildings, including a barn. So having a barn on-site again is entirely appropriate and should help remind visitors of the origins of the property.
The builder of this barn was Lewis Wickliffe Walden who was born in Monroe County in 1830 and died here in 1885. He and several of his brothers were carpenters. Mr. Walden built the barn in the western part of the county, on a farm that was owned by his father, Lewis Logan Walden. The property went through several ownership transfers over the years, and in 1955, Morris and Maudeline Duckworth bought the land with the barn on it. Mrs. Duckworth, the great-great niece of Lewis W. Walden, and her family took great pride in the barn that was still standing in excellent condition 100 years after being built. Mr. Duckworth died in 1984 and his widow sold the property in 1988. In 1993, she put together a history of the farm and barn that has been passed on to us by Mr. Neidigh.
Photo Gallery: Barn Dismantling
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Our 1860s barn as it stood in western Monroe County in 2009. The dismantling process began on Nov. 16, 2009 and ended approximately six weeks later. -
The dismantling process is well underway here, with most of the roofing off and some of the siding5613: The upper level roof is completely down -
The crew who disassembled the barn. Left to right are Ralyn Cutshaw, his son Daniel Cutshaw, Larry Hays (foreman), and his son Micah Hays. -
The shed roofs and siding of second story (hay mow) have been removed. Materials were carefully stacked on trailers or pallets for transporting -
The hand-hewn posts and beams are beautiful and especially when seen against a deep blue sky! Posts and beams were all labeled to assist in the reassembly -
This shot shows the steel cables that were attached to the posts on the main level of the barn to assure that the structure stayed together until they were ready for things to come apart. When they started removing the weight from the upper level, these cables had to be tightened each day and sometimes twice a day. -
The wooden pegs that held the posts and beams together through the mortise and tenon joints were driven out by hand whenever possible and saved, rather than drilling them out. -
When it came time to lift the posts and beams, a hoist with a jig attached was used. Heavy straps were attached to the beam and then to the jig so that it was balanced when lifted and moved. -
Sometimes they were able to remove sections intact, though that was much trickier. Here the first of the middle post and beam assemblies was being lifted off. -
The weather turned wet in early December and the site became a quagmire. But work continued. -
Just the skeleton of the main floor and the lower lever remain here. -
Lifting these big assemblies of posts and beams required a great deal of teamwork and care to assure everyone's safety and the safety of the materials. Only one beam was damaged in the entire dismantling process. -
Another small beam is removed using the hoist and jig. -
Not much remains of the upper levels here. -
All that remains here is the lower level and the floor of the main level -
The main floor was pressure washed to remove the worst of 150 years of dirt, then they began to pull the huge nails from the floor boards. -
Once the flooring was removed, the floor joists were exposed. -
Removing the floor joists -
Getting ready to lift a beam from the lower level -
The wooden portions of the barn have all been dismantled and stacked. -
Since the foundation stones were to be used to face the basement of the “new” barn, the old foundation was carefully unstacked and the mortar was cleaned off the stones. -
A pallet of foundation stones. -
Chipping off the old mortar and stacking some of the stones onto a pallet -
A close-up of a hand-hewn beam in the lower level of the barn.
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Photo Gallery: Barn Reassembly
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The basement was dug and the foundation poured in Fall 2009. On March 16, 2010, the first of the old barn beams were delivered to the site next to the Museum. -
After cleaning and inspecting, they were able to put some of the posts and beams back together off-site, then bring them to town and put them in place as a unit as shown here. -
It took just three hours to set all these barn members in place using modern equipment. When the barn was built in the 1860s, they had only man and horse or oxen power and would have taken much longer. -
Cross members that will support the upper story are being put back in place. -
With floor joists down and temporary flooring, they began to place the upper level assemblies of post and beams. -
Lining things up so the posts would drop down into place. -
The upper level taking shape. -
Getting the old mortise and tenon joints to go back together was sometimes a challenge, but patience and skill on the part of the builders got the job done. -
By the end of the day on April 2, it was beginning to look barn-like again! -
On April 8, they began to attach the structural insulated panels (SIPs) to the sides of the structure. Foam insulation sandwiched between two sheets of oriented strand board with conduit for wiring embedded in the foam and window and door openings pre-cut, these panels are strong, energy efficient and cost effective. -
Moving one of the side panels into position. -
A view of the framed-in elevator shaft on the main level. -
Another end panel is lifted into place. -
East end panels are all in place here. The window openings are there, but the outer layer of OSB was left intact to make it easier to install the panels. -
Here on the inside of the structure, you can see the window openings. -
The west panels on the upper level were attached on April 13. -
After all the side panels were attached, more of the old material was brought to town for rafters and purlins (the horizontal pieces). -
More SIPs were used to cover the roof. -
SIPs are in place on the shed roof here and the rafters and purlins are going up on the main roof. -
The first of the upper roof SIPs being positioned. -
The roof is on and carpenters are working on the siding. -
The stone mason working on the stone veneer on foundation and retaining wall. These were the original barn foundation stones that were sawed in half so they could be used as a veneer. -
View of the west end of the barn. -
Working on the aggregate cement apron at front entrance.
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