St. Rt. 180 – Ross County
Charles Maxwell and his family have made an enormous effort to keep this barn in good condition, and it shows. According to Peggy Hays, daughter of Charles, the round barn was built by R.P. Maxwell, great grandfather. It was completed in 1910 and has been owned and operated by the Maxwells.
It seems R.P. may have had help. Ms. Hays provided the historical photos below along with a copy of an April 1985 Ohio Magazine article In Search of Round Barns. According to that article “Hal Foster of Kingston built two round barns in 1900. He would have built more except for the roofs. The economy of round barns was publicized in farm journals and Foster found the materials he needed on the farm, except for the roof metal and tongue-and-groove siding.
Leslie Shepler did the roofs. He said his hand hurt for years. He cut each of the forty-foot roof pieces diagonally, by hand, like pieces of pie. There was equipment to cut tin, but not diagonally. Mr. Shepler cut the one hundred twenty pieces for each barn, and then refused to do any more ever again.”
When a big windstorm hit the two Kingston barns in 1980, it ruined both roofs. Charles Maxwell persisted until he found a fellow to repair his barn roof. The other owner, with a nearly identical barn just across the township was apparently less resourceful or determined and had his barn torn down. |
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The barn was visited by another summer storm and more serious roof damage in the late 1990’s. At the time, a local newspaper quoted Charles. “It’s a pretty good size amount of roof off,” Maxwell said, adding he has no idea what it will cost to fix. “We will have a new roof (put) on it. What’s torn off is crumpled up so badly it’ll have to have a new roof on it.”
The barn is 234 feet in circumference, is banked, and has a basement where cows were fed and milked. Hay was stored above and dropped through spaces in the flooring to the cattle below. The second tier is 90 feet in diameter [circumference]. A silo 18 feet in diameter and 45 feet tall holds 300 tons of silage. Round barns don’t come without stories and this one is no exception. Neighbor Pete Lyons, a township trustee, grew up filling that barn and silo. Along with stories of hard work and feats of daring atop the silo, he passed along the story of the fellow that died in that barn. Apparently, he kept going round and round looking for a comer in which to relieve himself. Alas, to his demise he never found one. The story was verified and authenticated by several members of the Maxwell family.
Many Ohioans are grateful to Charles Maxwell and his family for their effort to preserve this historic icon and its folklore. – TOG
More than 140 square feet of roofing was damaged by a 1997 summer storm. |