Ribbons won by H.A. Tonsfeldt's livestock are displayed inside his show box at the Tonsfeldt round barn at the plymouth County Fairgrounds in Le mars, Iowa. Tonsfeldt built the barn to house his prized Hereford show cattle, and the ribbons are among the many original items still found in the barn, which is on the Iowa barn Foundation's annual fall barn tour Sept. 1415.
IOWA BARN FOUNDATION
It's not unusual for Pat and Dave Lehner to give an impromptu tour of the Tonsfeldt Round Barn at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds to motorists who happened to see it while driving through Le Mars.
The barn's unique design is definitely an eyecatcher, as the thousands who attend the Plymouth County Fair each year surely would agree.
"Coming in on Highway 3 from the east, you can't help but see it. A lot of people will come in and want to see it. They're just curious.
Most people haven't seen a round barn," said Pat Lehner, who along with husband Dave takes care of the fairgrounds.
Next weekend, Pat and Dave expect more visitors to stop in for a closer look at the historic barn. For the first time, the barn, also known as the Plymouth County Fair Round Barn, will be on the Iowa Barn Foundation's fall barn tour. It was on the 2014 spring tour, a smaller event that focuses on barns on a one or two county area.
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A record 92 barns, many of them more than 100 years old, across the state will be open for free tours on Sept. 14-15. Included in that number is a record 11 round barns, six of them making their first appearance. The unusual shape is attractive to barn-lovers such as Dave Austin, a member of the barn foundation's board of directors and editor of its magazine.
"They are some of the most unique and complex structures in the state," Austin said of Iowa's round barns.
According to the foundation, 2,462 round barns were known to have existed in the United States, and 627 remain. In Iowa, 250 were built, and 74 remain The Tonsfeldt Round Barn is one of the most unique of those, Austin said, and could be one of the most popular additions to this year's tour.
"I would call it a must see stop. I think this one is unique enough that a lot of people will drive there just to see that barn," he said.
Long a landmark at the Plymouth County Fair, the Tonsfeldt Round Barn is a gem. It features a rare domed roof, one of only 66 barns known to have been built like it in the United States. Just 24 remain.
"There is just a pure magnificence to the architecture of that barn," Austin said. "Probably very few are in as well-preserved condition as this one."
You don't have to tell that to Pat and Dave Lehner, Plymouth County Fair Board members or those who make it an annual point of visiting the barn during the fair, where it houses an educational agricultural exhibit hosted by Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce's agriculture committee with assistance from the county's FFA chapters.
The fairgrounds are a fitting site for the barn, given it was built for show cattle.
In need of a structure to house his prized polled Herefords, H.A. Tonsfeldt began construction of the barn on his farm on the west side of Le Mars in 1918 and finished it three years later. The farm changed hands over the years and was eventually offered to the fair by new owners Leonard, Marvin and Roman Langel and moved to the fairgrounds in September 1981, one of the first structures in the fair's Pioneer Village.
Aside from new shingles and some electrical updates, the majority of the barn is still in its original condition with original materials.
Its uniqueness attracted Austin to reach out to the Lehners to get the barn on the fall tour. The Barn Foundation bestowed its Award of Distinction upon the barn, making it eligible for the tour. It's part of the foundation's effort to introduce more historically significant barns to its annual tour and encourage preservation of structures that once were the heart of every farm. The foundation distributes about $120,000 in preservation grants annually to help barn owners fix up historic barns.
"We're seeking out unique historically restored barns and asking them to join our tour," Austin said. It didn't take much to convince the Plymouth County Fair Board to accept the award and get a spot on the tour for the next three years.
Pat Lehner said she, her husband and fair board members are ready to greet visitors, answer questions and share the barn's history.
"It's bringing people in who normally don't come to this area, and it definitely puts Le Mars on the map," Lehner said. "We take great pride in it."
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