Painting a barn of any size takes time, skill and some serious funding. Recently the Barn at Heartland Acres Agribition Center in Independence, Iowa received a new paint job with a bright red paint appropriately named Red Barn.
As barns go, the Heartland Acres Barn is a two story, 40 foot high structure with 18,500 square feet of indoor viewing space. Housed in the large structure are some of Iowa’s oldest agricultural artifacts used by Iowans as they built their farming operations dating back to the mid 1800’s. The barn was completed in 2007 using modern day engineering and old world cedar shake shingles and cedar siding along with the help of local Amish and local contractors.
Why are barns painted red? According to Craig Johnson, Executive Director, the answer is simple, “Red paint was inexpensive at the time and the pigments were readily available. Farmers naturally gravitated to the color out of practicality. Several web sites go into detail on the issue and give varying degrees of information on the subject of red barns. We decided to paint our barn red out of tradition, but also the huge building, painted in red is just plain visually recognizable as a big red barn.â€
The project was funded through private donations, a memorial gift and a grant from the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.
Heartland Acres is a nonprofit 501 ( c) organization.
For more information about Heartland Acres please call (319) 332.0123 or find us on Facebook.
The front and back sides of the Heartland Acres Barn were captured in these photos on a crisp, sunny Iowa day in November. The barn received a new paint job in September and is part of the ongoing maintenance and beautification of the campus.
The front and back sides of the Heartland Acres Barn were captured in these photos on a crisp, sunny Iowa day in November. The barn received a new paint job in September and is part of the ongoing maintenance and beautification of the campus.
