Old barn rebuilt and reborn in Center Point
Posted on Oct 09, 2009 by
Dave Rasdal.
Like a set of Lincoln Logs, the barn came apart near Manchester and went up again in Center Point.
OK, it wasn’t as easy as assembling a toy.
But diagrams drawn by the Amish, who tore the 36-by-48-foot barn down in June, helped Dusty Sylver and her husband, Mike LeClere, rebuild it on the 19 acres they own at the northwest edge of Center Point. Dusty’s nephew, Mike Silver (Yes, they have the same last name but, as an artist, Dusty changed hers.) and his Silver Brothers Construction company were also a big part.
“I’ve loved barns ever since I was a kid,” says Dusty, 47, who grew up on a Central City acreage. “I always knew I wanted to put a barn back here.”
At first, Dusty and Mike considered purchasing a “kit” barn. It just didn’t seem the same.
Members of the Amish community take down a 36-by-48-foot barn and addition east of Manchester on June 22. The century old barn has been reassembled at the Center Point home of Mike LeClere and Dusty Sylver. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Then they heard about a century old Manchester barn to be torn down.
“We rode motorcycles to see it,” Dusty says. “It was love at first sight. When they told us the price, it was even better.”
For $5,000, the barn was theirs. That included cataloging and delivery. They would have to reconstruct it themselves.
The days dragged by until the barn boards arrived in late June. After all, as Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders, Dusty and Mike couldn’t wait to build “The Hog Barn” for their machines.
They couldn’t wait to add it to their gardens (flower, vegetable and butterfly), landscaping and private trails in woods adjacent to the public Cedar Valley Nature Trail.
They couldn’t wait to raise it next to their 1934 farmhouse.
As work began on a foundation, Dusty started her blog, The Bike Barn (http://thebikebarniniowa.blogspot.com), where she’s posted pictures and a narrative.
“That’s why I did the blog,” Dusty says, “so I could keep track of this because I’m not going to remember. I’m not going to ever do this again.”
The barn took shape through September, even though some broken old boards couldn’t be used.
“It’s everything and more,” says Mike LeClere, 45. “We were looking for the mortise and tenon construction and the big beams. When we walked in at first and saw up through a hole in the floor to the sky … it was part of history.”
After using some new wood, making 100 new pegs and investing another $10,000, the old barn is being reborn as Dusty’s loft studio for stained glass and The Hog Barn.
“I hope this makes people think about tearing down an old barn if the structure is good,” Mike says. “They don’t build them like this any more.”
United States University of Iowa
