h  Chase Stone Barn History g

~ Click Photos to Enlarge ~

This German design fieldstone barn was completed in 1903.  It is located on the NE corner of Cty Rd S & Schwartz Rd
in the Town of Chase, Oconto Cty, Wisconsin. 

The Krause family bought this property in 1870.  Around 1886 they built their first big house.  The Oconto County Reporter wrote:

Dec 1886:  Daniel Krause has a good farm and has partly finished a very large and commodious dwelling house, which will be among the finest on the road. 

The picture below was taken in 1898 in the Town of How in Oconto County, WI
( which is not far from Chase ).
It gives you a general idea of what it might have been like to build the stone barn.

 
1898 Photo of a Barn Raising the the Town of How
( Click Photo to Enlarge )

Engraved in the south wall of the stone barn is the inscription:

1903
D. E. Krause
Architect
Wm Mensenkamp
Mason

Daniel was also the owner of the farm when it was built.

Most of the stones that were used to build this barn were gathered from local farm fields, hence the name "fieldstones."  But that is not where they originally came from.  They were pushed and tumbled here by huge glaciers from the Canadian Shield during three known ice ages that moved through Wisconsin over the past 70,000 years. 

The glaciers plowed over everything in their paths like giant bull dozer's, burying rocks, trees, and other debris deep beneath the earth.  Every spring when the frost is coming out of the ground, many of these stones work their way up and through the surface of newly plowed fields.  Farmers had to remove their "stone crops" before they could plant their other crops.  This was no easy task since there were no tractors, loaders or dump trucks at that time.  Stones were lifted by hand were probably put onto a "stone boat" which is a wooden sleigh that sits very low to the ground on two runners so that it can glide easily over ruts and rough terrain when pulled by a team of horses or oxen.  Having it low to the ground also helped ease the back-breaking labor of lifting the heavy stones onto a higher wagon. 

Once loaded, the stones were usually hauled to the edge of the field and piled.  Sometimes the stones were used as border walls between property lines.  Other times they were hauled to other locations to be used as foundations for timber barns and houses....or in this case, a whole barn.
 

The barn was designed with two very large arched doorways at each end of the barn.  This allowed you to pull a hay wagon full of "loose" hay into the barn with a team of horses, unload the hay, and then exit out the other end.

To unload the hay, a pulley system, which was mounted in the ceiling of the roof, would lift the hay up to the level of the loft where workers waited with hay hooks ready to grab the hay and pull it onto the loft.  The middle stone half-wall connects to both ends of the barn and helps support the loft, as well as section off the parlor.  It helps support the large beams that support the roof.  Hay would be dropped over the edge of the loft to the barn floor where it was picked up and pitched through the wooden feed doors to the cows in the stable on the other side.
 

The Krause family sold the farm in 1920.  It passed hands several times between 1920 and 1954 when it was bought by bachelor's Casimir (Casey) and Stanley Frysh.  The Frysh brother's owned this barn for 50 years and were very proud of it.  By this time, the only remaining structures were the stone barn, a hay barn, and a small utility shed.  They used the barn to raise heifers and store machinery and feed.  In the early 1980's they rented out the barn to their neighbor's, the Wilcox's, who used the barn for the same purpose for next 20 or so years.

The Frysh brother's were confronted many times with offers to buy the old stone barn.  One person wanted to make the barn into a car dealership.  Another wanted to turn it into a restaurant.  The latter almost succeeded, even to the point were blueprints were drawn up, but in the end the brother's just couldn't do it.  They felt that it was wrong to turn the barn into something other than what it was originally intended.  ( Thank you Casey and Stanley! )
 

Casey Frysh demonstrates how the
wooden hinged doors open. 

Hay is thrown down from the loft above and is pushed through the wooden hinged doors into the parlor side of the barn for the cows to eat.
 

As the years went by, the north wall slowly began to lean outward.  It is believed that this was caused by not having enough cross support for that wall.  The south wall remained stable because it was anchored by the loft and the stone half-wall inside the barn.

The leaning wall caused several large cracks in the wall, and numerous smaller ones throughout the structure.  It also loosened the roof.  If not repaired, the wall was estimated to have fallen down within a few years.
 

Around the early 1990's, a small tornado blew a small section of the tin roof off the northwest corner of the stone barn, which was loose because of the leaning wall.

That same tornado took the small concrete cap off the top of the silo and blew it over the barn clear into the neighboring woods a few acres away!

It also severely damaged the large wooden hay barn that was off the southwest corner of the stone barn to the point where it had to be taken down.

The Pulaski Area Historical Society, among others, were very concerned for the future of the stone barn and pleaded with the Frysh Brother's to have the barn fixed.  They also recommended to the brother's that efforts be made to put the barn on both the State and National Register of Historic Places.  They agreed.
 

A small tornado ripped off a section of the tin roof that had been loose because of the leaning north wall.

Orvil Krueger,
The Building Doctor
Marion, WI

Orvil "The Building Doctor" and his crew were hired by the Frysh's insurance company to fix the roof.  Orvil had a reputation for being one of the best in the state because he repaired old structures that other's said couldn't be fixed.

Orvil was only contracted to fix the roof, but when he saw the leaning wall and all the damage it had caused, he recommended to the insurance company that they fix the wall and cracks first before fixing the roof, since that is was what caused the roof to loosen in the first place. 

The Frysh brother's only had $15,000 worth of insurance on the barn because they figured, "What was there to burn?"  In the end, the insurance company and the Frysh brother's agreed to split the of the cost of the whole project in half.  Orvil and his crew were there for 2-3 weeks making the repairs.  The total cost of the project was over $15,000, with the insurance company and the Frysh brother's each having to pay half of that amount. 
 

Tall beams were braced against the stone wall to help support it before it is pulled back in.

Before pulling the wall in, a single row of stones had to be removed from the bottom of the inner north wall at ground level so that as the wall was being pulled back in, it had room to tip.  (A concrete footing later replaced the space were the stones were removed).

Thirteen holes were dug along the outside of the north wall.  Large beams were then inserted into the holes and braced against the outer wall.  This process is also known as "Still Backs."  It allows pressure to be distributed along the whole wall when it is pulled in, not just where the chains would be connected.  This process lessens the chance of the wall cracking or buckling when pressure is applied to it. 

Long threaded 5/8" rods were then inserted into pre-drilled holes in the tops and bottoms of the beams from the outside toward the inside.  I-nuts (nuts that were casted with a loop over the head of the nut) were then turned onto each rod until secure.  Come-a-long chains were then connected to the loops on each I-nut. 
 

Rods were were pushed through vents in the stone wall to attach to come-a-long chains.

The loft floor was then raised just enough over the center stone wall to let most of the chains pass through it to get to the south wall.  Other chains went through other openings in the center wall, such as the door in the center wall.

There were no beams on the south wall, so the chains had to go through whatever openings there were.  Planks were put across windows and doors so that the chains could be anchored to them.  One chain was even attached to one of the silo rungs.

Then slowly, one click at a time, one beam at a time, the north wall was pulled back in 16".
 

Rods were then run across the upper part of the barn from the north wall to the south wall and secured with turn buckles (a device that connects the rods together and can be turned to tighten the tension if needed).  This was done to give the north wall the cross support it needed, and to help prevent it from ever tipping again. 

Since the 1995 renovations, the north and south walls have remained secure and the turn buckles have never had to be adjusted.  Good job Orvil and your team :-)

In 1999 the Pulaski Area Historical Society started efforts to list the barn on the State and National Register of Historic Places.  Money had to be raised to hire Della Rucker, a historian, to research the history of the stone barn and write the nomination papers to the state and national registry's.  Their efforts finally paid off, and in the year 2000, the old stone barn was accepted on both registry's.

Chris Jaworski, President of the Pulaski Area Historical Society, proudly display plaques from the State and National Register of Historic Places.
 

By 2004, both Frysh brother's had passed away, leaving the stone barn and 10 acres of land to their niece.  In February 2006, Harold and Mary Peterson purchased the stone barn.  Upon learning that the town had always been interested in the owning the barn, the Peterson's decided to sell it to town.  On May 16, 2007 the Town of Chase became the proud new owner's of the stone barn.

After the town purchased the stone barn, the loft needed to be cleaned out so it could be inspected.  It was a dusty job, but with the many volunteers the task was accomplished within one day.
 

The hay was then hauled out of the barn and spread onto the field it originally came from.  Jack Schwartz pulls the spreader with Chris Jaworski's restored tractor.
 

The unique stone-lined well on the property was also inspected.  It is several feet wide and is twelve feet deep with about 2 ft of water in it.
 

Part of getting grants and other funding to help renovate this historic structure requires that a Historic Structures Report be created for the stone barn.  The town hired Brander Construction Technology from Green Bay to do this report.  They specialize in identifying structural deficiencies for all kinds of structures including historic. 

Brander will document all the history known about the barn, describe and show the current condition of the barn , describe and show what the barn will be like after the renovations are completed, and finally give a cost analysis of what the renovations will cost.  Once complete, this report not only becomes the historic document for the structure, it will be used as a tool to get grants and other funding to help restore the stone barn.
 

Don and James examine the roof system and document the barn design as well as the techniques used to build the barn back in 1903.

Don and James examine the condition of the silo.

Don takes samples of the mortar
so that it can be analyzed to
determine its condition.

Please continue to check back as our future projects become part of the past.

Submitted by Kristin Kolkowski