The Rebecca Rankin Round Barn is a historic

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 far eastern part of 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 ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. Located along State Road 18 in far northern Jay County, the barn is one of many built throughout the state during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its distinctive manner of construction has resulted in its designation as a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

Round barns in Indiana

Due to the invention of circular

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 ...

s with

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s by 1882, round barns began to become practical in the late nineteenth century.McMahan, Jerry. '.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, 1991-10-18. Accessed 2011-01-05.

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s soon began to make this technology more widely known, and farmers began to embrace this technology by building their barns around their silos. Moreover, farmers found that circular barns were more efficient, because they had no need to walk from end to end of the building multiple times when feeding their animals. As farmers and professors at

land-grant universities A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Morrill Acts of 1862 and ...

in different states began to advocate the construction of round barns, Indiana farmers became aware of this trend; 152 round barns were constructed in the state between 1889 and 1936, of which 77 survived into the 1990s.

Rankin Barn

The Rankin Barn was constructed under the leadership of Benton Steele and Cameron Watt in 1908, at the height of the round-barn building period. A simple wooden

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

structure with windows in its peak and an adjacent silo, it lies along State Road 18 in northeastern Penn Township, east of

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

and northeast of Pennville.Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. ''Jay County Interim Report''.

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Department of Natural Resources The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the U.S. state of Indiana. There are many divisions within the DNR and each has a specific role. The DNR is not only responsible for maintaining resource areas but also manages ...

, 1985-07. One other round barn was constructed in Jay County; known as the Holdcraft Round Barn, it was built in 1913 along the present State Road 1. In 1985, Indiana state

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

officials surveyed the entirety of Jay County to record historic buildings in communities and in rural areas; the Rankin Barn was one of nearly 750 places in the county to be deemed historic, but one of only 82 to receive the highest rank, that of "outstanding." In 1993, the Rankin Barn was listed on the

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 ...

. Although the 1985 survey's definition of "outstanding" included possible eligibility for inclusion on the Register, the Rankin Barn is one of only eight Jay County locations to be accorded this distinction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin, Rebecca, Round Barn Barns on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Buildings and structures in Jay County, Indiana Buildings and structures completed in 1908 Round barns in Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Jay County, Indiana 1908 establishments in Indiana