Welcome to my World ! Photos from the collection of John C. McCornack Yukon, Oklahoma This collection of photos provides brief views of some of my favorite old barns. Most have seen better days, but most of them cry out to be remembered. Photo of an old barn about half mile east of Victoria, Illinois. The barn has since fell to the ground. This was my favorite old barn. That Weathered Old Barn The weathered old barn that stands in the field Is just a remnant of days long past Gives me memories made in other times But the memories linger and last The hayloft was spacious and dusty The loft door let in the sun But the ladder that took us to it Was the ladder to so much fun Many days spent in the hayloft Pretending was just a game My sister and I loved singing As we watched out the door at the rain We could sing as loud as we wanted The cows never minded at all We watch as the neighbor sat milking As the shadows fell on the walls Oh, the smell of fresh hay in the loft And the sounds of the animals there As we sat and we sang in that old barn Memories of today were made there. That weathered old barn, no longer needed It just stands, leaning into the wind But the things that it sheltered and cared for Are my memories of what it was then. By: Jene' Lind 9-23-02 Bob Funk's Barn As reported by the Daily Oklahoman, this old Yukon barn was about to go the way of many farm buildings that empty out, fall down and return to the soil they served. Its lines showed a dignified past, and its skin showed an aging process. It was topped by a hip roof, graceful wings spread tensely by the width of the barn. A pulley and grapple hooks could be seen from a window. But shingles were flapping and roof tiles falling, and the barn was bending over and slumping. The weather vanes were clinging with rooster claws at a different angle from the building tilt. Then, a crew of master carpenters that knows barns best stood it up straight again. The barn was built in 1935 by H.I. Grimes, who called his estate Avondale Farms. Bob Funk, chairman of Express Personnel Service and owner of a Limousin ranch, bought this piece of adjoining land four years ago on Wilshire Boulevard near Yukon. was nostalgic. "I grew up on a farm that had a barn like this. I hauled and stacked many a bale of hay in it." A local engineering company quoted him a prohibitive fee just for straightening it, but a cattle customer recommended an Amish "barns builder" in Indiana. Bob Funk found David Bontrager and invited him to Oklahoma. Amish people are prohibited by their religion from driving and generally don't take well to airplanes. But when Bontrager was on vacation, his group stopped in Oklahoma to look over the job. Funk, who wears a white cowboy hat with curled brim, and Bontrager, in his flat, black, straw hat, discussed the battered barn. "It was about to the point of beyond help," the Amish carpenter told the worldly executive. "I told him to tear it down. It will cost more to fix than to build a new one." Funk shared a personal side. "There's a lot of history here," he said. He hears of it often, when a neighboring farmer or rancher pulls into the driveway and climbs out of a pickup into the drive to check the progress and pass on some stories. This is how Funk learned that in the barn's younger years, it served as a community gathering spot for dances in the hay mow, the loft that spreads across the top of the barn. "The neighbors come by and say, 'Please don't tear down the old barn.' There are so many memories." This barn I drive by often and I have being following the rebirth of this magnificent structure. A beauty located northeast of Kickapoo, Illinois. Another grand structure which sits on a hill besides a stream a couple miles southwest of Corn, Oklahoma. Old barn located at Bradford, Illinois Note: Rock Construction My father feeding cattle in front of our simple tin barn which was hand built in 1945 on the McCornack homestead southeast of Cloud Chief, Oklahoma. Artist's concept of a typical barn complex in Knox County, Illinois in the 1850's. Photo of the barns at my McCornack ancestral home located northwest of Newton Stewart, Scotland. These barns were probably originally built around 1800. Barns in the Amish community of Arthur, Illinois. Round barn located at Kewanee, Illinois Walnut Grove Barn located north of Knoxville, Illinois was defined as a National Historical Building and has now become a popular visiting place during Knox County Drive Days. Beneath its Tattered Roof While driving along a country road One day when I was all alone I saw an old barn in the middle of a field Looking rundown and so forlorn The house, once an old homestead Was gone now after many years It looked as though it had burned down Left behind a chimney and tears So the barn was really by itself And I could almost hear the sounds Of what had taken place inside On this old tired homestead ground Like I said. it was dilapidated One door hanging by a single nail Oh I know this huge tired building Had many interesting stories to tell The smell was a musky dustiness From fields fertile at one time But that was probably long ago When they were in their prime It was then that I noticed A mother cat with wild eyes Her kittens cuddled close to her It was a startling sweet surprise For this barn was still providing A place for life to dwell I smiled then with happiness My eyes began to swell So even though it appears That old barns are no longer of use We never know what nestles Beneath its tattered roof! Marilyn Lott © 2006

Thanks for spending a little time in my world ! John McCornack

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Tears Fell  I know this sounds crazy -- but tears fell as I looked at these photographs -- I see too many barns begin the deterioration process -- and watch as they are either torn down or disintegrate with weather or time elements. i love looking at the mail that you have sent , thanks for the beautiful memories , i grow up on a dairy farm , i love the old barns John, your pictures of old barns are some of my favorites of your pictures, something about old barns touches my old heart John, what memories these photos brought back to me. When I lived on a farm in Washington many years ago, our barn was small but had three stalls, one for our horse and two for our cows and attached to the barn was a wash house where mother kept the old wringer type washing machine and we had running water from the well. My, what marvelous times I had there in my youth. Thanks for sharing the pictures and the stories. OH these barns are so wonderful. I too, have a love of old barns. Of course, you  already know that. I still get special feelings when I view those hills of Scotland. I can see them beyond that barn. ;-)   Thanks for sharing so many wonderful kinds of barns.

Weaver of Tales John, how do kids of today grow up without a barn to play in? It was a refuge, a playground on rainy days, on cold days, a means of getting out of the house without getting frostbite. All the neighbor kids gathered in our barn to hear the tall tales my brother would tell. Mainly ghost stories or great daring deeds he performed.. Considering he was crippled with polio... there was no way he could have done the things he told us about. I think we all knew it, but never said a word back. It passed the hours away on a cold day. We sat on bales of hay in a circle with Glen in the center. He was a weaver of tales. Thanks for bringing back fond memories of long ago.. for he is gone now. I love the barns -- one day I intend to go and knock on the door of a farmhouse that has the barn attached by a small breezeway. I'd love to take photographs and need to get permission from them. I am enjoying the music and pictures on this page..The tree and barn on the first one. Looking at the picture in my mind, with John and the Red Car removed...reminds me of the Brazos River Bottom Cotton and Corn farm we once had...My brother and I would lie under a large tree like that by a smaller older building..on a hot summer day during out lunch break..We would lie on the white cotton looking up and around the tree branches at the white puffy clouds that surrounded us..I wished for rain so I could go home, LOL ..Never thinking of any problems of what it meant if we did not get all the cotton or corn in...all I knew was that hot field was not for me..and it did make me sick often..I'd get headaches and vomit...and have to keep on working until time to go home...My dad thought it was "put on". Then one day all my cousins came and he knew I wanted to be with the bunch..well I got sick and he sent me home...I never went back in the field again... But what I started out to say..in that tree were some very large black ants..We knew as Dad had informed us that those did not sting...so we would let them crawl anywhere they wanted to...and watch as they would get a crumb of our food and then go home with it...very interesting...

Barn for Sale? Hi John, I am David Shaver I work for some Illinois firms that do barn restoration and I found your site. I am going to add a link to your site from them. They are http://www.trilliumdell.com and http://www.barnstormerswood.com If you want to link to us I would be flattered. I am right now enjoying Floyd Cramer from your web site it’s been years since I heard him. My wife is from Kewanee and when we go Johnson Sauk Trail Park we always drive by that round barn you have pictured. If anyone around the county has a barn for sale http://www.trilliumdell.com/ will list if for sale for free. Thanks for your time. D. A. Shaver Graphics & Web Design, 1993 Baird Avenue, PO Box 594 Galesburg,IL 61402-0594

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