Another one coming down 

In and around many metro areas there still stands a few remnant barns from the days of our early family farms not so long ago. One such example is outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin  in Waukesha County to the west. A family farm property was deeded to the County by the family in 1987 and its keeper, the Waukesha County Parks Department, is now considering tearing  the old barn down to further develop the property for 'park purposes'. The farm house has already been torn down. 

It is a very current hot, local issue and a lot of Waukesha residents are speaking up in favor of saving the barn. The County has made an online poll and survey on the issue available at  WaukeshaCounty.gov/masterplan   When you get to that page click on the 'EBLE PARK Master Plan Survey' button and you can add your input whether you are a resident or not.

  

For an article on the story check out  http://www.jrn.com/tmj4/news/Face-of-a-Brookfield-park-to-change-landmark-hangs-in-balance-225886991.html

The costs of saving and painting the barn were pegged at $89,000 and the cost of tearing it down at $26,000. 

These Google Map images show the location and barn due west of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

 

There was a similar story in West Des Moines, Iowa a couple years back where the school district intended to tear down the old Maplenol family farm barn that was on the school property that had, similarly, been donated by the farm family to the school district. Over time the school district had taken down the farm house, but the barn remained and was now in jeopardy as the high school needed more space to expand its sports programs.

Long story short the high school kids pitched a fit and, with the help of a rallying call via social media, the barn was ultimately saved and moved a short distance away to another site.

It's a great story and here's a link to some great time lapse video of the barn move late at night that was shot and produced by one of the talented photogs at the Des Moines Register newspaper   http://www.desmoinesregister.com/VideoNetwork/1031389187001/Maplenol-Barn-night-move-timelapse
 
I will stay in touch with the Eble barn story in Wisconsin and pass along the details, and if anyone wants to contact Waukesha County directly to register your thoughts, the Parks Department can be reached at (262) 548-7790  and I'm sure they would love to hear from your old barn-loving self!

That's all for now -- keep on, and I will too -- :-)

        Tom