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 ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

near the Stephenson County 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 Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

state border. The building is the first round barn in the Stephenson County area, home to 31 round barns, with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

. The building was added to the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984.

History

The Charles Fehr Round Barn was built in 1912 for Walter Knott. The building stands on a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

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 In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

included a rooftop

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

as well as a

silo A silo () is a structure for storing Bulk material handling, bulk materials. Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. Three types of silos are in widespread use toda ...

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 and the Haas Brothers. 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

joist A joist is a horizontal structural member used in Framing (construction), framing to span an open space, often between Beam (structure), beams that subsequently transfer loads to vertical members. When incorporated into a floor framing system, joi ...

s 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

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 Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...

.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 and Stephenson Counties as well as

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

Counties in

. 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 Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

) 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

. This roof style set the structure's design apart from the typical round barn designed based on recommendations from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

' and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

Agricultural Experiment Station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

s. 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.

on February 23, 1984 as part of a

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fehr Round Barn, Charles Buildings and structures 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