Ryan’s Round Barn, a place of circular beauty!

I don’t know when I have seen anything as lovely as Ryan’s Round Barn.  Located in Johnson’s Sauk Trail State Recreation Area near Kewanee, I talked my mom into traveling with me to take a tour.  The barn is perfectly round without a beam in it.

Steve Christian, Director of the Friends of Johnson Park Foundation, provided my mom and me with the gold tour.  “This barn is 360 degrees, a perfect circle on the outside as well as the inside,” Steve said. “It is made of 16’ long White Pine that was soaked in large vats. Then when pliable, they nailed it and it held. There are no beams in this barn. So they laminated five one-inch boards together that sit on these posts in a perfect circle,” Steve said. “This is the largest round barn of this style (that they know of), and they used all horizontal siding.”

History of the Round Barn

Built for Dr. Laurence Ryan who used the barn for his prized Black Angus cattle. He imported the cattle from Scotland. Ryans Round Barn was completed in 1910.  The Dr. was a well-known surgeon that lived in Chicago.  He had lived his early life on a nearby farm. The barn and farmhouse he built was a summer retreat.

After hearing about the Shakers round barns, he wanted one for himself.  He hired a German immigrant to build the barn. It has several unique characteristics like a steel track that circles the top section of the barn. The loaded track carried the hay. Two steel tracks are in the lower level and were used for feed and removing manure.

The ceiling of the barn and the structure is a huge piece of art.  Check Heritage Iron for a future museum article. Several pieces of agricultural machinery are located inside on display.  The barn is 85′ in diameter. The silo is 80 feet tall with a 10′ cupola.  “This is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen,” said my mom Lora Disque, who is not a farm girl, but appreciates the architectural beauty of this masterpiece.

The barn is now owned by the State of Illinois. It is maintained by the Friends of Johnson Park Foundation who also provide tours.  The barn is open May – September on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month, for more information, log on to Ryan’s Round Barn Project | Facebook or call for appointments to
309-507-2669.