Prairie Wanderings: The round barn of Kiowa County
By PAUL G. JANTZEN
Contributing writer
You can see it from a distance on the plains of southwest Kansas. The round barn stands about four miles southwest of Mullinville in the west-central section of Kansas' Kiowa County. Closer-up, we can see that it is really a 16-sided polygon, 70 feet in diameter with a weather vane atop the cupola at a height of 50 feet.
This imposing structure was built in 1912 for Henry W. Fromme to house 28 draft horses and a registered Percheron stallion imported from France. Fromme had immigrated to Kansas from Longenholzhausen, Germany. He hired a master carpenter, Irish immigrant William Campbell IV, to build the barn at a cost of $8,000. Campbell and Fromme, together, designed the barn. Fromme's son later married Campbell's daughter.
Taking up the center of the barn's first floor is a 16-sided granary, 16 feet in diameter. Horse stalls were arranged to surround the granary, all horses facing the center of the barn. Hay was stored on the second floor.
The roof was framed with 160 sloping 2-inch by 6- inch beams which converged at the top, holding up the weather vane.
Campbell used only high quality lumber — no knots allowed. And all cuts were made with hand saws.
The polygonal design was considered more wind resistant than traditional rectangular shapes. At any one time, a straight wind would be directed at no more than 6.2 percent of the total wall surface instead of 25 percent. Most of the wind would always be defected to the side.
In 1949, the Fromme family auctioned off a quarter-section of the land with the barn to J.W. Birney. When Birney's son Lawrence inherited the property, he deeded one acre with the barn to his wife Phyllis as a gift for their 15th wedding anniversary in 1986. She had taken a special liking for the unique building.
In 1987, the barn was placed on both State and National Registers of Historic Places. And in 1993, Phyllis Birney gave the barn to the Kiowa County Historical Society.
But 80 years of weathering and hared use had taken its toll. The shingles were badly worn, and some of the siding was damaged. Parts of the "tin" ridge caps were damaged or missing. Doors and windows suffered from long neglect. And the floor was covered with three feet of manure.
With donations from over the United States and a grant from the Kansas State Historical Society, volunteers began to restore the barn. Renovation culminated in a community celebration in 1995.
Today the barn is wired for electricity so the second floor that once held hay for horses is now available for family reunions, barn dances and other events scheduled for the summer.
In 1966, Fern Fromme, widow of the grandson of Henry W. Fromme and who lives in a house also built by William Campbell, celebrated her 80th birthday here. And Henry W. Fromme's great-great-grandson was married at the barn that summer.
In the fall of 1996, the Hutchinson News featured the round barn in a Sunday edition calling attention to this "architectural gem."
