Century-old barn gets new roof

Efforts are underway to save a piece of history: Eldon and Bekki Kirkland’s 101-year-old barn in rural Ogden.

The Kirklands’ barn is one of the largest brick barns left in Iowa at 75 by 55 feet. Since purchasing the property a little over three years ago, the couple has installed new windows and doors as they could afford to. But this past fall, they realized the condition of the barn was critical.

“My husband said we had to have a new roof before winter, or we could lose the barn,” Bekki Kirkland said.

But a new roof wasn’t something they could afford. Kirkland, who works as a research librarian at the Des Moines Public Library, decided to put her research skills to work in the search for possible funding opportunities.

“We’re working-class people. We couldn’t afford a whole lot,” Kirkland said.

In the worst-case scenario, they figured they’d climb up on the roof themselves to patch the roof, so they wouldn’t lose the barn. But the Iowa Barn Foundation came to the rescue. When Kirkland reached out to the foundation, she was told her barn would be the perfect contender for grant funding –but the deadline was fast approaching, and she only had two weeks to write the grant application. It was well worth the effort.

Most Iowa Barn Foundation grants are 50/50 match grants, but the price of a new roof was $30,000, and the Kirklands didn’t have an extra $15,000 they could invest in the project. So the Barn Foundation approved a $25,000 emergency grant for the project. The Kirklands are working to raise the remaining $5000.

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