The Krause family stands in front of the stone barn.  John is the grandson of Daniel E. Krause who was the owner and architect of the stone barn when it was built.  Above the window is an inscription that is mortared into the stone wall.

       
 

1903
Daniel E. Krause
Architect
Wm. Mensenkamp
Mason
 

The Krause family poses in front of the center stone half-wall that runs the entire length of the barn.  This wall is very important to the barn, as it helps support the hay loft which is directly above it, and also the outside walls and roof.

Directly behind them is a row of wooden hatches.  Heifers and other barn animals were kept in the parlor area directly behind the stone wall.  To feed the animals, hay was pitched over the side of the roof and pushed through the pivoting hatch door to the other side.

This is a photo of Earnest Krause, who is John's dad, and the son of Daniel E. Krause.  Earnest lived in Chase and helped his father build the stone barn when he was a young boy.  While putting on the last piece of tin, he slipped and fell off the roof, hurting his foot.

John remembers his father, Earnest, telling him a story about how he was farming the field by the stone barn one day in 1918.  He said the church bell (on the next property) used to ring for all kinds of occasions; if someone got married, died, or had a child, it would ring.  But on this particular day, it rang for another reason, to signify the end of World War 1.  This made Earnest especially happy, as he was supposed to enlist the very next day!