Board members of the Washington County Riverboat Foundation toured the historic barn and future exhibit that the foundation funded at the Kalona Historical Village.

Jake Snider, who has been in charge of much of the project, and historian Mike Zahs led the tour.

The barn was transported in March, and Snider said that the barn sustained little damage in the transportation process, with the only repairs necessary due to transportation coming from holes in the side walls that were sustained while loading the barn onto the transport vehicle.

Snider said that the plans for the barn are to eventually turn it into a museum, with the main floor as a restoration of the barn throughout the years and the second floor housing exhibits. He went on to say that this barn would be unique to other historical barns across the state due to how it evolved across time, rather than being locked to a single time  period, “You essentially have a barn here that has visual things you can continually reference from 1870 to 1970 while this barn fought for viability through the greatest expanses and advancements made in farming. We can go to lots of communities and you can see a barn from 1850 or 1890, but I’ve never seen a barn where you can tell a century’s worth of stories with what’s still here.”

Snider said he expects work to begin on the barn restoration within the next month, but did not have a solid date for completion. He said they plan to do the restoration with local labor and materials wherever possible.