Everyone over age 60 remembers the Sears & Roebuck catalogs that offered anything one could possibly want from clothing to books, from farm equipment to furniture and much more. The last Sears Catalog was spring/summer 1993. Fewer remember that you could also order a barn from the Sears & Roebuck, “The Book of Barns” catalog. (One could also order a house from a Sears catalog, but that’s a topic for later).
I am looking at a 1919 Sears barn catalog that offers several types of barns, all pre-cut and ready to assemble, .Everything was included in the package, rafters, posts, door frames, windows, siding, truss lumber, studs., roofing shingles. Even already ready-made barn doors. .All the pieces arrived at your nearest rail depot, ready for assembly, with instructions on how to do it.
A popular model, the “Country Gentlemen Modern Barn No. 1007,” was offered in sizes from 32’ wide x 32’ long ($1,049) to 36’ wide x 104’ long ($2,836). The catalog copy read: “.For the dairyman, for the horseman, or for mixed farming, this building is equally useful”
The “Pride of the Farmstead, Modern Dairy Barn No. 2054,” was available from 30’wide by 32’ long ($1,195.00) to 36’wide x 146’ long ($4,592). “No dark corners in this dairy barn. Many long windows provide an abundance of light. Right here the first requirement of sanitation in a dairy barn has been carefully considered. The windows are equipped with sanitation shields; a quick chance of air may be made by lifting windows back into these shields. No direct draft touches your stock.”
You could also order a milk house, chicken house, corn crib and hog house from the barn catalog. Many of these buildings can still be found on farms around the country.
THE OLD TIMER SAYS: In its day, Sears & Roebuck offered about all that a farmer needed in its catalogs.
ANNOUNCEMENT: My “Telling Your Story” Writing Class at The Clearing in Door County is set for July 19, 9-4. Call 920-854-4880 if you are interested in attending. The class usually fills, so you may want to reserve a spot sooner than later.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
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May 9, 6:00 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library (Rescheduled because of weather), Wild Rose. Mid-Wisconsin launch of Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin.
May 11, 2:00 p.m. Arcadia Bookstore, Spring Green. CCC story.
May 13, 6:30 Verona Library, CCC Story
May 14, 12:00 Noon, Sequoia Library, Madison. Simple Things
May 18, 10-2:00 Dregne’s, Westby, Book Signing.
June 1, 10:30-3:00, Speaking at 1:30. Stonefield Village, Cassville.
PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:
Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org
Books for Thinking About Spring
Living a Country Year (Check writings about spring)
Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)
Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of spring recipes)
Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)
The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work. (Preorder, www.jerryapps.com)
Ringlingville USA (All about the Ringling Brothers Circus.)<.Plan to summer trip to Circus World Museum, in Baraboo.
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