BRC Fallow Deer

The Horse Barn, although it never held horses in my lifetime, stood stoic along the dirt road on my parents farmstead. This barn is over a hundred years old and built with beautiful, huge limestone rocks. Approximately 2 years ago, straight line winds peeled the roof off just like opening the top of a tin can. Severely damaging and destroying this beloved old barn. It ripped out support beams, gates, and pen structures essentially leaving it in ruin.        

The horse barn was a major part of my childhood. I spent countless hours in the barn searching for new baby kittens, bottle feeding bucket calves, feeding our animals and just playing in there. It felt like a grand building, the perfect backdrop for my childhood adventures. It was my favorite place to take anyone that visited our house. “Let’s go look at the kittens, or the bucket calves!” It was my favorite escape to play outside. Most of my childhood friends and cousins can attest to the grand adventure of playing in the horse barn.   

The horse barn was originally part of the Rhodes’ Ranch, way back in the day. The Rhodes Ranch dates back to 1878 and was established by Theodore Rhodes. It is said that the ranch was large for its time, with multiple houses and barns that sat on a 3000 acre property. The original 1000 acres were purchased for only $4.50/acre. According to my hometown historian Oretha Ruetti, Theodore Rhodes was a very zealous man. Prior to settling in Frankfort, KS, he engaged in the business of manufacturing lime and he furnished the lime for the building of the state agricultural college in Ames, Iowa. Unlike most settlers, Rhodes came with the means to invest in the growth of the Frankfort community. The Rhodes ranch essentially served as a feedlot for cattle from Mexico that would then be drove by hoof  to Chicago to sell. Rhodes also established a bank in town, served in the Kansas House of Representative, served a term as the Frankfort mayor, and was a member of the roads and highway committee. Thus a part of the reason Frankfort is the junction of Highway 9 and 99.    

It is apparent that Theodore Rhodes had extensive knowledge in limestone used for building. We believe that all of the limestone rocks used to create this barn were harvested from the original property, as there are still some abandoned rock quarries a couple miles to the east of my parents homeplace. There is some debate on what this barn originally housed back in the early 1900’s. We wonder if it was the chicken house, hog barn or possibly it was just a secondary barn as there is clearly a larger limestone barn foundation still on the property today. In 1917 an elaborate, for the time period, watering tank system was built that is still standing today. One of the 3 tanks currently holds water and is still being used today. 

My parents aren’t my only family generation to have ties to this property. I have heard my grandmother Mary Catherine Farrell tell stories of how my great grandfather John E. Farrell worked there as a young lad. His job was to pump water from the multiple wells to fill the watering tanks. It was an all day job for a boy. It was said that the wells would run dry and John E. would have to give it a spell before resuming pumping. We believe that John E. was approximately 14-15 years old when he worked at the Rhodes Ranch and he was born in 1889. 

Over the years the horse barn was converted and utilized by each person that owned the land after the Rhodes Ranch Legacy ended. Since then there have been several families that lived on this property; Leinweber’s, Coffee’s, Roeders’, Davis’s and now the Zirger’s. Who have lived here going on 34 years with no plans to sell.  

After two years of asking around and looking for a carpenter to come replace the roof and reinstate the integrity of the barn my parents assumed they had struck out. They had almost given up hope of saving the barn. In fact, they were dragging their feet but knew they needed to start looking into site clean up. Interestingly, when my parents were selling a trailer to an out of town carpenter, he showed interest in the barn structure. They walked through it, marveling at the carpentry and excellent masonry work. They all agreed it was a shame that it couldn’t be saved. A couple months later he surprised my parents by reaching back out and offered to take on the renovation project. My parents were thrilled and jumped on the opportunity to restore this limestone building back to its former glory. Preserving this magnificent piece of history instead of trading it in for a basic metal building. They are gladly investing hard earned money, time and love back into this barn. I can’t wait to see how much longer this old limestone rock barn can live….another 100 years?

Pyle General Contracting LLC of Hiawatha, KS started the restoration of the horse barn on April 1st . No Joke! They are currently still working on it. They hope to wrap up the project in 7-8 weeks, weather permitting. Stay tuned for pictures when it is completed!