The Schroer Barn Fire

In 1953 the barn on the Enoch Schroer farm located at 09428 State Route 219 was destroyed by fire.  The following article about the cleanup and the construction of the replacement barn from native timber was published in the January, 1954 issue of The Ohio Conservation Bulletin.

HE “GREW” A BARN IN HIS FARM WOODLOT

by George Lodge and J. Frank Needham

Last September, a fire consumed the barn of Enoch Schroer.  That was on Route 219, two miles east of New Knoxville, Ohio, in Auglaize County.  It was on a Wednesday, the 30th.  The fire smouldered for several days.  A clean-up was publicly announced for Monday, October 5th, as neighbors and friends quickly moved in to help do the job.

First stunned by the loss, Schroer realized he had to have a new barn.  After some discussions with his neighbors, he began inspecting several new barns in that area, and putting his thoughts on paper.

These were submitted to a lumber company, which fortunately operates a modern sawmill and lumberyard store, only 2 ½ miles away, and which for over 30 years has specialized in barn building.  We inspected that mill, and certainly here is one of the better sawmills in our state.  It is worth driving far to see, and truthfully, we did not suspect such an institution could be found in Ohio.  The mill operates on sawdust and mill waste, runs via steam into electricity.  It uses steam first for power, then for heat, to dry lumber the modern way, for the finest millwork, machined wood parts, etc.  But back to the barn job.

Schroer had sold timber to this lumber mill earlier in the year, and soon after the fire, the lumber mill proposed to turn it back to them, and for good use in the proposed barn building.  There was considerable small and undesirable timber, but it was quite suitable for barn building.  The lumber mill advised them how to use it to the best advantage, and agreed to send their logging equipment to bring the logs in.   They agreed to saw the trees for such needs, and to deliver the lumber back to the job.  The neighbors felled the trees.

Soon after all of this was under way, the lumber office completed detailed drawings of the new barn—how to build the foundation, locate the pillars, etc. and foundation work started.  Next, concrete was poured, new dirt filled in, and within a few days carpentry work for the new barn began.

The spirit of neighborliness was high around the Schroers and we’re sure that they are good neighbors, too.  Some of the helpers were named Kuck, Vohs, Warner, Aufderhaar, Kruse, Rodeheffer, Feldwisch, Hoelscher, Bierbaum, Holtkamp, Kantner, etc. and one man by the name of Smith.  How he got into that neighborhood we didn’t learn.  Once the new barn plans were ready there was the urge to “Let’s go!—winter is coming.”  The man had cattle to house, etc.  The over-all leadership in building was by two experienced barn builders, and several of their normal crew, backed up heavily by the farmer neighbors.

The job progressed rapidly, and the roof was on the new barn exactly 48 days after the fire.  This whole job is worth seeing.  If there is a fine modern barn around, this is it.  Mr. and Mrs. Schroer review the whole story, of course, with a smile.

But the story has a moral—beside that of helping friends in need—and quickly we wish to state that we have never seen such a thorough job of how Ohio farm woodlot timber can be used to good advantage, as on this job, to build one of the finest barns we have ever seen.  It also proved that good use can be made of the lower grade trees—with some choice marketable trees and logs left for sale to the lumber mill.

Good, but rough white oak logs were used for the sills, in 2x6’s and 3x8’s.  A large quantity of rough structural lumber was used in the construction of the first nine foot structure.  The mow joists were cut from small rough hickory, etc.  And mostly 4x8’s often only one such piece from a log.  The rafters—round roof rafters, were machined from about 700 pcs. 1x8-6’ long, and again from short logs.  (We must admit that there must be some very good equipment at a lumber mill, to do a job like we saw here.  We know very few in the whole state.)  However there were only six pieces that were 26 feet long, or nearly so, for mow floor carriers. The next longest pieces were 6x6x21 feet used in the gable ends.

All that remained for Schroer to buy were the siding, the mow floor, (first used for foundation work), the roof sheathing. The asphalt lock type shingle roof, circular face strips, door track and hangers, windows, wood gable end ventilators, etc.  We secured a copy of the plans from the lumber mill, and we like the whole program so well that we’ll gladly pass them along.  We think the plans worth saving.

The lumber company behind all this, we might add, is the Hoge Lumber Co. of New Knoxville, O., a father and four sons corporation; the father starting in April, 1904.  Next spring, he will have been in the sawmill and board business, for an even fifty years.  They deliver complete barns all over Ohio.

The Forestry Division often uses this mill to show other millmen, and foresters in other areas, what is meant by complete wood utilization.