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A Mail Pouch barn, slated for demolition, becomes the latest acquisition.

By Tod Swormstedt

The teamwork and community spirit of the old-fashioned barn raisings took a modern twist recently for the American Sign Museum when it turned into a barn “razing.” Well, maybe we were a little more careful than the usual connotation of “razing,” but I couldn’t pass up the wordplay.

To acquire a Mail Pouch barn, we first had to locate one of these rare structures, carefully dismantle the vertical, wooden boards and then diligently reassemble them.

A year ago, I contacted the Barnstormers, a grassroots group interested in preserving the history of Mail Pouch barns. The group tracks the existence and conditions of the approximately 1,000 barns that remain nationwide on its website, www.ohiobarns.com/ mpbarns.

Roger Warrick, the organization’s webmaster, and the son of the last Mail Pouch painter Harley Warrick, helped the museum spread the word about its interest in preserving a Mail Pouch barn.

Back in July, one of the Barnstormers, Dave Wawak of Hinsdale, IL, said his friend, Clyde Pitts, had learned about a barn near Lanesville, IN, that was set to be demolished. Pitts provided the property owner’s name and a phone number, and I called the owner, Scott Berkley, who confirmed the barn was ours for the taking. I called Roger back to let him know I was going to drive down to Lanesville and check it out.

I met Berkley at the site and further outlined who we are and our plans. The barn wasn’t in great repair, and, in fact, one of the back-corner posts was completely gone. I was concerned that, in the course of removing the front siding, we might compromise some of the barn’s remaining structural integrity and possibly subject it to collapse.

Having returned to Cincinnati, I mentioned the project to the museum’s new building architect, Paul Muller, who had provided a contact in Indiana with barn-preservation expert Scott Hunsinger. After several phone calls, Hunsinger was on board for the project and would probably bring a friend, Tracy Porter, to help. Things were starting to take shape.

Due to everyone’s busy summer schedules, we decided to wait until mid-September to tackle the take-down. Eventually, we agreed on October 26, but when that week rolled around, the weather predictions called for heavy rain. We postponed poned until the following Monday, October 30.