Tornado Proof Barn Only One Of Its Kind

Tornado proof barn only one of its kind AG WORLD Ag World 10-1-20 Clarence Jansen's barn has caused many a traveler to stop and take pictures, and many a neighbor to poke good-natured fun at Jansen, who designed and helped raise the 37-year old barn on his farm near Aniwa, Wis. The shape of Jansen's 96- by 30-ft. barn can be described as a rectangle with the foundation, frame and roof of the shorter two sides rounded. A barn like it is a very rare sight. William Tishler, a University of Wisconsin (Madison) professor of landscape architecture who has studied historic Wisconsin barns since 1960, says he hasn't seen nor heard of another barn like it in Wisconsin. Windstorms and chopped hay prompted Jansen, 73, to build his unique barn. The rounded ends, which face the east and west, better withstand high winds. Neighbors were skeptical some 37 years ago when they helped raise the barn, Jansen notes, but the barn still stands. "Oh, a tornado probably would take it anyhow, but it still stands a lot of gale winds." The second reason Jansen cites for building his oddly-shaped barn is the once-popular method of storing loose, chopped hay in mows. The loose hay often caused barn walls to bulge and Jansen thought his barn design would help prevent the problem. Some 70 friends, neighbors and relatives helped raise the Jansen barn in November, 1948, under the direction of the late Ed Martin, a carpenter from Aniwa who built many barns in the area, according to Jansen. The barn is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Highway 52 and Marathon County Y, approximately 20 miles east of Wausau. Footings for the barn are embedded six feet into the ground. Double wall of 1- by 4-in. and 1- by 8-in. concrete blocks are set on the footings and the entire wooden structure of the barn is bolted to the foundation. Jansen had the heavy wooden beams under the mow set close together to preven sagging. The mow floor is a double layer of planks with felt in between. Ten curved and reinforced rafter support the balloon-type roof which is covered with aluminum. Jansen logged all the wood for the barn from the farm and curved the elm sapling 1- by 4-in. rafters himself. The east rounded end of the barn has room for two 100-ton capacity stave silos. There's one small wood stave silo inside the east end. Haylage is blown into the silo through a hole in the roof of the barn. The west end of the barn has the milk house, an entrance and a feed room in the lower half and a 2,000 bu. capacity granary in the upper portion. A hand-built chute delivers grain from above into the feeding room. Some 6,000 bales of hay can be stored in the mow. The lower portion of the barn's conventional-looking midsection has 25 stalls and cement gutters meant for a barn cleaner which Jansen never installed. Jansen and his wife Mae had 25 Holstein cows and young stock until a year ago last June when they retired. "If I had to build it all over again, I would build it exactly the same way except I'd build it a few feet wider," notes Jansen. (Reprinted with permission from Country Today.)

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