Smith barn featured in book about Kansas barns
By ROWENA PLETT
Reporter / photographer
Robert L. Marsh, an architect and engineer from Ottawa, has compiled a publication about historic barns in Kansas.
Barns of Kansas: A Pictorial History is an 8 1/2x11-inch, hard-cover book with 160 pages and almost 300 photographs.
Included is the barn located at 1305 U.S.-77, about one and one-half miles northwest of Florence.
The barn belongs to Richard and Lenora Smith, who purchased the farmstead along with 25 acres from Marjorie Haas in 1990.
The wood-frame structure is built on a limestone walk-out basement, with retaining walls extending out on both sides.
According to Lenora, the basement was used for livestock. The ground floor contains bins for grain and feed, and a ladder leads up to a hayloft.
The Smiths are attempting to find out when the barn was built and who built it. Lenora said a Williams family owned the barn before the Haases bought the place. She said the Haases restored the barn in the 1960s.
The Smiths have spent considerable money to keep the barn painted. If they can find the information, they will attempt to get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kansas Electric Cooperatives is sponsoring and distributing the limited edition book as a fund-raiser for its youth and education programs.
A picture of the Smith barn was included in an article about the book in the November 2002 issue of Kansas Country Living.
The book was released this month and can be purchased for $34.95 plus shipping, handling, and tax by sending a check and order to Kansas Electric Cooperatives, P.O. Box 4267, Topeka KS 66604. Leatherbound copies are available for $75.
