History 21 The Podcast - 6.15 The Sparre Round Barn

History 21 The Podcast - 6.15 The Sparre Barn

Anoka County Historical Society

The next property on our National Register series is the iconic Sparre Round Barn in Nowthen! 🐄🏛️ Discover the remarkable story of Swedish immigrant Erik Sparre Jr., the master architect Ernest Marsh behind its construction, and why it continues to captivate visitors. Listen now, then check out the photos and video in our show notes to see this incredible barn for yourself!

Join hosts Sara Given, ACHS Volunteer Coordinator, and Rebecca Desens, ACHS Executive Director, as they share this intriguing story.

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The Sparre Barn

The Sparre barn is located near Nowthen Boulevard in Nowthen, Minnesota, just off of Bass Lake. The Sparre barn’s unique circular shape held many advantages to the advancement of agriculture during WWI. The benefits of the post and beam construction of a round barn include greater volume to surface ratio which means less construction material to enclose the same volume, though it often took more time to construct. Video created by students through Hennepin Technical College.

Library Minute

Barns loom large in our collective memory as symbols of our agricultural history. Check out the following resources that highlight these iconic structures.

Adult Nonfiction:

• Complete Plans for Building Horse Barns Big & Small by Nancy W. Ambrosiano (636.10831 AMB)

• American Barns by Jan Corey Arnett (Libby)

• Barns, Sheds & Outbuildings: plan/design/build: step-by-step building and design instructions, plus plans to build more than 100 buildings published by Creative Homeowner (690.8922 BAR)

• At Home in the American Barn by James B. Garrison (728 GAR)

• Barn: form and function of an American icon by Susan Hauser (725.372 HAU)

• Log Cabins and Outbuildings: a guide to building homes, barns, greenhouses and more published by Skyhorse Publishing (690.837 LOG)

• Barns of Minnesota by Doug Ohman (728.922 OHM)

Children’s:

• Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown (E BRO)

• A Home in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown (E BRO)

• The Hundred-year Barn by Patricia MacLachlan (E MAC)

• The Barn by Leah H. Rogers (E ROG)

A/V:

• Landmarks: keeping history alive published by Pioneer Public Television (DVD977.6 LAN)