A barn reborn

MONTICELLO, Iowa — On Norm Zimmerman’s commute to and from work, he passed a barn that always caught his eye at the old Bennett place, just 2 miles from his own farm. He always dreamed the gothic-style barn was on his land, and even mentioned it to Ron Kahler, the barn’s owner.

“Ron told me, ‘I wish you did too,’” Zimmerman said. “We got to talking and worked out a deal to make that happen.” 

In 2003, Zimmerman set in motion the plan to move the structure that was built in 1920 across the Iowa landscape to his own property. He worked with a local company, Holland Moving, to prepare the building for its 2-mile trek across two other farms before reaching Zimmerman’s land.

McElmeel Excavating used a road grader, and with permission from his neighbors, graded a road through fields to connect the old Bennett farm to Zimmerman’s homestead. 

“Moving the barn took half a day,” Zimmerman said. “We built a semi-trailer with bridge planks. We used two semi-tractor trailer axles and put those underneath the barn and made a hitch for the semi in front. We used a four-wheel drive semi tractor and drove it right through the fields to our farm.”

With the preparations to make the barn mobile, Zimmerman also needed to reinforce the then 80-year-old structure for the trip.

“We wrapped the entire inside of the barn with bridge planks,” Zimmerman said. “We anchored and lagged them to the studs and supports. Wherever there was a support, we ran a steel I-beam across.”

The barn sat in the driveway of the Zimmerman farm for a few months while preparations for its next home were finished. Footings and foundation were custom fit by Red Hall, and Holland Moving returned to roll the barn onto its new home.

Zimmerman had his dream barn on his property and a gothic-arched dairy barn returned to the farm for the first time since 1974.

“We used to milk cows in a barn just south of what is now our machine shed,” Zimmerman said. “In 1974, a tornado came and took it down. We built the machine shed and had our cows in there after that. My dad built a 4-stall parlor under a lean-to on the south side where we would milk.”

The next step was restoring the barn.  Zimmerman, a building contractor for Zimmerman Buildings Inc., recycled materials from some of his work sites to continue the restoration. He discovered steel I beams and 2- by 12-feet Douglas fir joists in a building he was set to tear down. He salvaged those materials, along with steel pipes that were formerly well pipes in Cedar Rapids to construct the supports.

In all, it took 10 years to finish the restoration process. He added geo-thermal heating and air conditioning with in-floor heat. Three inches of spray foam insulation was added throughout the barn and covered with 3/8-inch plywood for what Zimmerman thought would be his workshop. He also added an art studio upstairs for his wife in the modified hay loft.

When his daughter saw the finished product, she asked to have her wedding in her dad’s restored barn.

“My daughter’s wedding was our first event in 2013,” Zimmerman said. “We thought that was going to be the only one we would do, but we had three or four people come up to us during the wedding and say they wanted to get married here too.”

With that, Z-Barn was born. The Zimmermans hosted events at their barn for the next 13 years. A commercial kitchen was added, and the barn had everything needed to host all kinds of events — from weddings to family gatherings.

This added a new chapter to the 105-year-old barn’s history. It also put to use an iconic piece of American dairy farming on the Zimmerman farm.

The farm was bought by Zimmerman’s grandparents in 1909, and farming has always been prevalent on the property. Now, the Zimmerman farm works 500 acres of corn and soybean rotation, with additional hay for the farm’s eight Gypsy Vanner horses. The farm also has 100 laying hens and raises 300 meat birds annually.

“It’s a very iconic dairy barn,” Zimmerman said. “You can’t hardly build a barn like that now.”

Gothic structures were first constructed in France in the 13th century, but some of those key characteristics can be found on farms throughout the Midwest.

The pointed, curved roof, a continuous arch rising from the ground, and symmetrical curved rafters are all defining characteristics of these barns that were built throughout the early 20th century. The barns were deemed practical, especially for equine and dairy, housing animals on the main level, and the hay loft just overhead on a second level.

From 1920-1960, the barn at the Bennett place was home to 20-25 cows, with a few horses housed under the same roof. The barn was divided in half, with one side for the dairy herd, the other for the horses. It also contained smaller pens for calves. The cows were milked in stanchions, similar to how the Zimmermans would milk at their own farm prior to the tornado.

The rafters inside are stamped with Prull Bros. Lumber, a former lumber company from nearby Langworthy. They are constructed with 1-by-8s nailed together, a common practice for the Gothic-style barns of the time. Boards would be nailed or glued together, then curved to provide a strong, yet lightweight support for the structure.

Gothic-arch-style barns started to gain popularity in 1880, hitting their peak between 1910 and 1930. Following World War II, new materials like steel, concrete and pole-barn construction made rectangular designs cheaper and faster to build, and the Gothic-style faded away for more modern designs.

“I always wanted a barn like this to return to our farm,” Zimmerman said. “They don’t make barns like this anymore, the round roof, this style. I got lucky that it was available and it was within my travel to get it. My wife says I like to color outside the lines, and this was one of those times.”

The Z-Barn hosted its final event this fall. Zimmerman intends to use the barn for his original purpose, a workshop for his machinery. After years of milking in a non-insulated barn, the insulation and geo-thermal heated floors are a welcome addition to the former dairy farmer.