The Secrest 1883

Once Upon a Farm 

Farming in the late 1800s and early 1900s represents a lifestyle of hard work, inventions, prosperity and depression. This presentation focuses on a typical farmer, Joshua Secrest, who developed a successful livestock farm. It also reviews the dramatic development of ingenious farm machinery and tools that enabled growth and prosperity. Secrest built a large octagonal barn in 1883. The barn and farmstead was lost in the depression. Old farm tools are shared as part of the presentation. Some you won’t recognize. 

If Barns Could Talk

Old barns are more than just solid functional buildings. They represent the soul of our farming heritage, and perhaps more! What is a barn; architecturally and emotionally? How did barns and their users grow together? Barn construction was a community affair; hard work, huge meals, and a barn dance. Few of us today have the products of our labor on display for all to see; to appreciate and to criticize. But what’s happening to our old barns? Will metal replace wood? Can we smell and touch the metal in the same fashion? Why should we care about barns today? What does it tell us about ourselves?

Why Save an Old Barn?

Should we let them fall down? What is the real value of preserving our past? The example used in this presentation is the restoration of The Secrest 1883 Octagonal Barn. A story is told about how individuals and organizations rallied around Iowa farm history, to contribute to the saving of this barn. The barn is open to the public, and photographers, artists and school children have all played an important role. How can you save your barn? What will they mean to future generations who grow up without them?

About the Speaker

Rich Tyler has been restoring the Secrest farmstead and octagonal barn near West Branch since 1993 with grants from the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Historic Preservation Alliance. Volunteers have played a critical role. Now events are held at the barn on a regular basis, including dances, weddings and receptions. Rich has researched both the Secrest and Longerbeam families, and met surviving descendants.

He has thousands of images showing barns, barn buildings, horses, windmills, early Iowa farming, the Secrest and Longerbeam family and the Secrest farmstead. The presentations include sharing a collection of period farm and barn-building tools. Some will be difficult to recognize. Can you recognize a hog catcher or a hay knife? I wonder why you have not heard the expression “ I wouldn’t touch that bull with a five-foot pole.”