Round Barns of America

Review: Round Barns of America, 75 Icons of History, Acclaim Press, 2022, Robert Kroeger.

Many people write a book because an idea insists, or a passion persists, until the quest becomes mission accomplished. Such was the case for Robert Kroeger when he set out to write about Ohio’s historic barns (Historic Barns of Ohio, 2021) and in the process, became captivated by round barns. No wonder,  Ohio has some magnificent round barns.

A passion persisted and now with the release of Round Barns of America, 75 Icons of History, Kroeger has beautifully captured the results of his foray in search of round barns, which includes polygonal barns, some having as many as 16 sides. In this, the only known book solely focused on round barns, he has explored not just throughout his own state, but traveled hither and yon to other parts of the United States. He settled on 75 barns in 32 states to showcase and doesn’t stop at a driver’s license description of each barn, citing merely its age, height, and address. Wonderfully, each barn’s story unfolds with personality and vitality. We learn about a farm and barn given to a girlfriend rather than to an ex-wife, a barn moved from one state to another to become a winery, and even that actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, helped save the only cobblestone round barn in Connecticut.

We are treated to a thorough backgrounding on the history of all-things-round, leading to the building of round barns in 18th century Europe and Scandinavia, the influence of railroad roundhouses on barn construction, and the mathematical determination that an octagon can enclose 20 percent more space than can a square, based on perimeter.

Kroeger includes, in his coffee-table format, full-color book, a chapter devoted to names associated with the actual construction of round barns, something seldom recorded, often overlooked, and lost to time. Alga Shivers was an African American barn builder who learned carpentry and engineering at George R. Smith College in Missouri and went on to build at least 15 round barns, including his own. Benton Steele, of Indiana, remembered as the “Father of Indiana’s Round Barns,” was both a designer and builder of barns and claimed that his round barn was “cyclone proof.” Surprisingly, we even learn of Angelica Church, a New York woman, well-acquainted with both Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, who put pen to paper and designed a round barn, later built on family property.

We study images of round barns loved, languishing, or likely soon to leave us. We find round barns that are built into banks, have basements or have multiple levels. We consider whether we might build our own barn of wood, brick, or stone. And, we find round barns have enjoyed differing purposes, among them dairying, blacksmithing, and threshing. We read with delight that some today enjoy new lives as inns, wineries, and homes.

Accompanying Kroeger’s colorful text are equally colorful photographs and his own impasto-technique paintings of the selected barns. A dentist by training, now retired, Kroeger will note with a smile, that he signs his paintings with an instrument he once used in his dental practice.

I am drawn to Kroeger’s beautiful book, but even more to the reason behind his quest to create it – to preserve in some cases, in the only way possible, the images and stories of America’s most important edifices, her nation-building barns. That is a passion I share and applaud him for. Round Barns of America, is a keeper.