Urban Barns

Barns in town? The town I grew up in has lots of them, and it used to have chicken houses, too, which have all disappeared. I never thought much about them until recently when I realized that the younger generations might find them to be an interesting bit of history.

In the not too distant past, you needed a horse and carriage to get around, and these barns served as shelter for a horse, a carriage house, and also stored feed and hay for the horse. A chicken coop probably stood nearby to provide eggs and Sunday dinners. Many families also kept a milk cow in town.

After Old Dobbin was replaced, these buildings made a great garage for the horseless carriage, and had lots of room to store items in the loft.

Many of them are in sad states of disrepair, and obviously are not long for this world. I suspect that this one is full of clutter so the family car can no longer fit inside.

This one has a new tin roof, so it's a safe bet that it will soon be fixed up and painted.

I learned about my old home town looking for these artifacts. You find them only in neighborhoods built before the 1920's. By that time, most families had a Ford, which required only a small garage to protect the transportation.

This barn is just a few blocks off of the town square, and probably served as a livery stable, or as a feed and hay supply store.