Risum Round Barn, Spring Valley Wisconsin

Date added: June 30, 2023 Categories: Wisconsin Barn Round Barn
Southeast (1977)

The Risum barn is particularly interesting for the construction of its wood silo as an integral part of the barn, and for its early date of construction, being built between 1890 and 1892, according to the owner and the grandson of the builder. Carl Risum (1847-1899), a native of Norway, came to this country when seven years old, with his father, Hans Ludwig Risum, a printer who supposedly came to Rock County to work on the Norwegian language publication Emigrantin, Carl obtained the farm from his father in 1876, after serving in the Civil War. The carpenter was John Gansert or Gansell, according to oral tradition, but there is no record of the exact date or cost. The lumber was hauled from the Brodhead depot about six miles away.

Centric barns, though eccentric in the history of American barn building, were promoted in agricultural literature around the turn of the century and were built in some number, from Vermont to California. Rock County retains five of these barns, which were much less publicized than the Clausing centric barns of Ozaukee near the Lake Michigan shore. These five are the only centric barns known to have been built in Rock County. Such barns still exist in neighboring Green (four) and Dane counties. Others, known to have existed in these counties, according to the present Rock County owners, have burned or been destroyed.

The Wisconsin dairy industry grew rapidly in the late 19th century. Rock County is situated in the center of the southern Wisconsin dairy belt, being considered by the 1920s to be "one of the Banner Five" counties, in the heart of "America's Dairyland," and for its size stated to be at the head of the list. The number of dairy cows in Rock County almost doubled between 1880 and 1907. This growth was abetted by the encouragement of improved herds of dairy cattle by Hoard's Dairyman, published in nearby Fort Atkinson, by research by the University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Stations, and by the development at the University of Wisconsin in 1890 of the Babcock test to determine the amount of butterfat in milk. An efficient and inexpensive barn construction was sought to house the purebred Guernsey and other herds, as well as the draft horses, needed on the farm. To some extent in Wisconsin and especially in Illinois, centric barns were espoused for their advantages of "convenience, strength and cheapness."

Precedents include the round Shaker barn at Hacock, Mass., of 1826 (rebuilt 1865) with its 3 1/2 foot thick stone walls, its elaborate network of rafters, and central ventilating shaft from barn floor to cupola, which was published in farm journals by the 1880's, and in the writings of Orson Fowler, who promoted the spatial economy and efficient arrangement of octagonal barns in the 1850s. yet closer sources were the manuals and bulletins put out by the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois, and commercial books as well as periodicals such as The American Agriculturalist, The Country Gentlemen, Hoard's Dairyman, and The Breeders Gazette, Prof. F. H. King (1848-1911) of the University of Wisconsin, who was nationally known for his work on soils and his system of barn ventilation; and who wrote in several farm journals, also designed in 1889 a round barn near Whitewater, "not for novelty but for advantage," which was nationally published. It may also have been locally known to Dean. It was 92 feet in diameter and so larger than the Rock County examples. Yet his precepts and designs were known to have influenced at least Wesson J. Dougan of Beloit.

The Beloit barn used three concentric stone walls (any visible portion is now cement) under the foundations; the published barn used four. King proposed framing with hammer and saw in "the new method", and planned construction around a central silo, which was frame in the older King example and concrete in Dougan's barn. Dougan also placed great emphasis on ventilation; the "auger holes" in the outer walls of the foundation are both designs. King's round barn was designed to allow "the best performance of the animals", and the best use of labor for profit. Echoes of these slogans were painted onto the silo walls by W. J. Dougan on completion of the barn.

With their differences in dimension, date, carpenter, and details of construction, the Rock County centric barns did not seem to influence each other; rather the knowledge of the owner or barn builder must have derived to some extent from some of these publications.

For convenience, all the centric barns tended to include all functions possible within one roof: mow, stable, milking stanchions, silo and granary. They incorporated the latest developments, often a round silo in the center, 10 some kind of ventilating system, including louvers or a cupola, and conveniences such as a hay track with pulley in the mow and a manure track below. In all the Rock County examples, the ground story plan is centric, with rows of cows facing the center (King and later Dougan pointed out that a cow is wedge-shaped), with a circular aisle for convenience in doing chores. The barn was generally considered "handy to do chores in", though one long-time owner, not the original builder, did not like it, for dairy cattle because he felt the plan involved too much walking around. Sliding barn doors, of vertical siding, conform smoothly to the contour of the round barns or are flat in the octagonal barns.

For strength, the barns seemed superior, The continuous plate of a round barn converted the lateral thrusts of the roof into vertical loads upon the outside bearing walls. The horizontal siding, like a hoop, holds the barn together, taking advantage of the lineal, instead of the breaking strength of the lumber. The Risum round barn has withstood the tornadoes of 1911 and 1940 which supposedly blew down nearby buildings, yet the Dougan and Gempeler barns once developed torques which were rectified with further bracing.

Building Description

The Risum round barn, 60 feet in diameter, of horizontal lapped siding on limestone foundations, was built around a frame silo faced with a concrete block base. The barn is surmounted by a conical roof with an octagonal cupola, whose sides alternate louvers and 2-over-2 windows.

Built into a slight grade upward to the southwest, the mow story is reached by an earth and concrete ramp. The largely exposed ground story is walled with quarried limestone on that side, but is frame over low foundations to the east. Fenestration consists of 4-over-4 double-hung sash windows with 12' Square panes, on the ground story, as well as on two levels of the mow story, with six windows high under the eaves, for light and ventilation when the mow was full of hay. Further natural ventilation was provided by the draft from the hay chutes to the cupola.

The ground story could hold 30 cows, with stalls for six horses. The corridor leads around the outside. A manure track was installed in about 1914.

Framing is of 2" x 6" and 2" x 8" members. Studs are 28 feet long; the rafters are 32 feet. The plate was built of two layers of one-inch boards, sawn into a circular shape, according to the grandson of the builder, and fitted to overlap so that the center of one meets the edge of the other. The roof supports are constructed like a huge umbrella. The rafters form a continuous web, four inches apart at the juncture with the silo and two feet apart above the studs. The 12-foot diameter silo is sturdier than a barrel-like stave silo, according to the owner, being constructed of 2" x 6" studs from the ground to the peak, and two layers of lath, with building paper between, laid in opposing diagonal patterns. The interior was cement sand plastered and sealed with cement grout. A 1921 cylinder-cut silo filler remains in place, in excellent condition, with three helix-shaped knives; it is potentially operable. The metal loader pipe and silo cover pipe is also in place.

A ladder alongside the silo walls leads up to the cupola via the diagonal struts to the rafters. One could climb up above the hay and manipulate the hay-track, which was installed about the time the barn was built. Its carrier has been replaced. The hay track makes a complete circle at the juncture of rafters and struts. It could be pulled most of the way around from the floor, but had to be hand pushed at the end.

The barn is probably in the best condition of the five in the county. Its wood-shingled roof was covered with asphalt shingles in 1977. According to the owner, the sills need some repair. The barn will continue in use, especially for storage, as part of their larger farm operation.

Risum Round Barn, Spring Valley Wisconsin Southeast (1977)
Southeast (1977)