J. Whitney Goff Round Barn - Hodne Round Barn, Winfred South Dakota
The J. Whitney Goff Round Barn, located in Lake County South Dakota, near Winfred, was constructed in the Final Period Southeastern South Dakota Hollow Clay Tile Round Barn phase. The barns from this phase of construction appear in McCook, Lake, Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties. All of the barns are located around the Sioux Falls area. These barns are truly round barns built of hollow clay tile with round interior silos. The majority of barns from this phase have two-pitch self-supporting gambrel roofs. These barns were built as specialized livestock shelters for cattle feeding and dairying.
The J. Whitney Goff Round Barn was constructed in ca. 1915 by the Johnston Brothers firm. The Johnston Brothers Clay Works of Fort Dodge, Iowa was the leader in the construction of the hollow tile barn in Iowa. The company built their first barn in 1910 in Iowa and worked their way west into South Dakota. The J. Whitney Goff Round Barn is one of seven that were constructed in South Dakota.
There are three innovative technological advances that occurred with the Final Period of Round Barns. First is the use of the interior silo. While the interior silo was introduced in the 1880s, it did not come into common use until the early 1900s. The second advance that was widely adopted during this period was the self-supporting gambrel roof. This too had been a concept that was proposed in the late 1880s and not adopted until the early 1900s. The final innovation with a distinct and well-documented effect on South Dakota's round barn is the use of hollow clay tile as a building material. Clay tile was relatively affordable and was easier to clean, more sanitary and more resistant to deterioration than wood.
The J. Whitney Goff Round Barn exhibits many of the integral elements to round barn construction. The first and most significant is that the contractor and local building crew utilized hollow clay tile as their primary building material. For this phase of Round Barn construction, hollow clay tile was very significant and important. This round barn also utilizes the interior round silo. This type of silo was common to barns of this phase. The original design of this barn reflected a dome roof. After the tornado in 1943, it was replaced with a gambrel conical roof. Many barns from this period have a gambrel roof or even a conical roof.
Compared to other States, South Dakota has a large number of polygonal and round barns still extant. More importantly, most of these barns are currently being used and/or maintained. South Dakota round barn owners take special pride in their buildings and take steps to preserve this part of South Dakota's agricultural history.
Barn Description
The J. Whitney Goff Round Barn is located in the Winfred vicinity of Lake County. The barn is located on an active farm. This area of Lake county is predominately rural.
The barn is constructed of hollow clay tiles with a concrete foundation. Common elements on the barn include; hollow clay tile walls, sliding doors, small rectangular window openings, and a wood shingled gambrel conical roof.
Starting at the southern most point on the barn, there are three rectangular window openings. Above these openings is a large hay door and hood. The hay door and hood are sided with wood clapboards. Traveling west around the barn, the opening patterns are; two window openings, a sliding door, two historic sliding windows, a sliding door, a smaller hay door at the eave, and a sliding door. Projecting through the center of the roof is an interior silo.
The dimensions of the barn are an 80-foot diameter and a silo with a 21 foot diameter extending 60 feet high. A tornado struck the barn in 1943. It is at this time that the round roof was replaced with the hipped conical roof in its current condition.
The interior is very simplistic. There are stanchions around the exterior wall except where the sliding doors are located and stanchions around the interior silo. Above the exterior wall stanchions is a second floor that was used to store hay. A wooden ladder located along the side of the interior silo gave access to the second floor. There is also a metal track located on the ceiling of the first floor.