1311 120th Avenue

Summary

Lindstrom, John, Round Barn
1311 120th Avenue, Town of Balsam Lake, Polk County, WI
Date of Construction: 1913

The John Lindstrom Round Barn is locally significant for its association with centric barn building in the State of Wisconsin, in particular with true round barns of the 1900s and 1910s. Round barns were an expression of a progressive emphasis on efficiency applied to dairy farming at the turn of the twentieth century. It is also a very fine, unusually intact, and rare example of a round barn. Its distinctive rustic appearance and narrow conical roof add to the architectural uniqueness of the building.

The Lindstrom Barn was constructed on a one-hundred and sixty acre farm surrounded by lakes and woods in the Town of Balsam Lake in Polk County. The lower floor housed the stables and milking facility, while the upper level was used for storing hay. A silo is located at the center of the interior, completely enclosed by the round barn. It is assumed that the inherent efficiencies in physical labor of the round barn appealed to the Lindstrom family, and the type was fairly common in the western part of Wisconsin during the period. It is also likely that the barn was built or influenced by the work of local builders, carpenters, and farmers who constructed a number of very similar round barns, all possessing a distinctly rustic appearance.

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