Article from Oct/Nov 1994 Farm & Ranch   WELL BRACED and beautiful ... that’s how this proud round barn near Mauston, Wisconsin is remembered from when it was built 79 years ago by Billy Walsh’s father and family. Dad Wanted a Round Barn By Billy Walsh, Mauston, Wisconsin IN 1913, Dad decided he’d build a round barn. I remember him spending hours drawing up a floor plan and designing the barn himself.       He ordered two cement block molds, one for the barn, the other for the silo he also planned to build. For 2 years, we worked in the tobacco shed making blocks for the structures. The silo blocks were slightly curved, and the ones for the barn were rectangular. We hauled sand for the cement from a little bluff nearby.       Making these blocks was a tough job. It took four people about 15 minutes to make each block. So we were all very pleased on the day Dad announced that we had enough blocks to begin building.       The barn had 15 bents, 15 feet each. It also had a basement that was 10 feet deep and 72 feet in diameter. The silo, at 14 by 38 feet, held 128 tons of silage.       Dad cut most of the wood used in the barn’s frame from trees on the farm. However, he hauled the boards for the sides and the hay floor from town with our two workhorses, “Dan” and “Fox”.       Some local men helped build the barn. The ones I remember are Martin, Will and Norman Roth, Louis Schuett, Happy Gibler and Shark Pharo. Frank Steiner put on the tin roof and made the cupola.       When Frank and Dad erected the lightning rod on top of the cupola, they forgot to put the ball on its upper end. Rather than take the rod down again, Dad stood on Frank’s shoulders way up on the roof and slipped the ball on.       When the barn was finished in 1915, Dad was understandably proud. It was not only very beautiful, but well braced and constructed. Because it was round, the barn made feeding cattle about as easy as it could be.       Before putting hay in it, we held a dance to celebrate its completion. Guests arrived in about 60 carriages. In those days, everyone brought a lantern and some cake to a dance. The lanterns were hung inside for light.       Fred Potter and his wife were the “orchestra” that night. He played the fiddle and she played the organ. Our neighbors, the McEvoys, were the first to arrive. They tied their horses to the pine tree just west of the house.       When I asked Dad how long he thought the barn would last, he said 80 years. Well, he came close to being right. Up till a year ago, the barn was nearly as sturdy as the day it was built, though the roof was leaking. Its present owners had no use for it, however.       Last December, those folks decided to burn the barn down to make room for crops. My wife and I watched the old barn disappear in flames and smoke 78 years after it was built. Now the land where it stood is clear and flat and used for growing crops. It looks pretty much like it did back when Dad first got the idea he wanted to build a round barn.