The Charles Fehr Round Barn is a

round barn A round barn is a historic barn design that could be octagonal, polygonal, or circular in plan. Though round barns were not as popular as some other barn designs, their unique shape makes them noticeable. The years from 1880 to 1920 represent th ...

in the U.S. state of Illinois near the

Stephenson County Stephenson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 47,711. Its county seat is Freeport. Stephenson County is included in the Freeport, IL Micropolitan Statist ...

village of Orangeville. The barn was built in 1912 by the team of Jeremiah Shaffer and the Haas Brothers about one half mile from the Illinois– Wisconsin state border. The building is the first round barn in the Stephenson County area, home to 31 round barns, with a hip roof. The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

History

The Charles Fehr Round Barn was built in 1912 for Walter Knott. The building stands on a concrete foundation near the Stephenson County village of Orangeville, about one half mile from the Illinois–Wisconsin state border.

Architecture

The original design of the 56 foot (17.1 m) diameter

included a rooftop cupola as well as a

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

on the barn's southeast quadrant. Both of these features are no longer extant, the barn is otherwise in unaltered condition. The structure was built and designed by the team of

Jeremiah Shaffer Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning "Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...

and the

Haas Brothers The Haas Brothers was a Professional wrestling Tag team consisting of real life brothers Charlie and Russ Haas. The team was very successful in the independent wrestling circuit, but Russ's death on December 15, 2001 led to the end of the tag ...

. The

loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

is supported by a central concrete shaft, at its apex joists radiate outward from it. Access to the loft is obtained through an earthen ramp on the building's west side and the animal entrance is found on the barn's southeast side.See also Banked barn. Both entrances are covered by an overhang. The single hip roof is braced on its interior by a 2 by 6 inch (5.1 by 15.2 cm) beam nailed to each rafter four feet (1.2 m) above, and four feet (1.2 m) below on the opposite side, the roof hip. The exterior wooden roof is covered with asphalt shingles and the barn's original siding has been covered with sheet metal.Sculle, Keith A.
Charles Fehr Round Barn
" National Register of Historic Places Individual Property Form: Multiple Property Submission, October 1983, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved October 5, 2007.

Significance

The Charles Fehr Round Barn is one of 31

s that were constructed in a four county area, the Stephenson County area, that includes

Winnebago Winnebago can refer to: * The exonym of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native North Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin ** Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a federally recognized tribe group in the state ** The Winnebago language of the ...

and Stephenson Counties as well as Rock and Green Counties in Wisconsin. Twenty one of those barns, including the Fehr Round Barn are within Stephenson County.Sculle, Keith A. "," (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

) National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, January 9, 1984, National Register Information System, ''National Park Service''. Retrieved October 5, 2007. The Fehr Round Barn illustrates the evolution of round barn design, especially in the Stephenson County area. The barn was the first in the area to be built with a hip roof. This roof style set the structure's design apart from the typical round barn designed based on recommendations from the University of Illinois' and the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Agricultural Experiment Stations. The building represents the ability of local builders and designers to create their own ideas without the station's influence. The Fehr Round Barn was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1984 as part of a Multiple Property Submission.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fehr Round Barn, Charles Infrastructure completed in 1912 National Register of Historic Places in Stephenson County, Illinois Round barns in Illinois Barns on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois 1912 establishments in Illinois