Kansas Barn Alliance

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Survey Results

Historic Barns Surveyed

A new project of the Kansas State Historical Society will further the effort to build a record of historic barns in our state. The project will ultimately identify barns that would be eligible for listing on the Kansas or National Registers of Historic Places, thus making them eligible for heritage trust grants and preservation tax credits.

The Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) has completed the Kansas Barn Survey. KSHS contracted with Brenda Spencer of Preservation Planning and Design to conduct a statewide survey of historic barns and to write a history of agriculture-related buildings in Kansas. During the summer of 2007, Spencer traveled across the state looking at historic barns.

As a direct result of this remarkable work, 7 barns or agricultural compleses were placed on the Kansas Register of Historic Places and were approved for submission to the National Park Service for placement on the National Register.

The project involved surveying approximately 315 barns, an average of three barns in each county. The survey required physical access to the barns to allow visual and photographic documentation of the exterior, and interior where possible. The survey is a means to identify the number and types of barns in our state and study their styles and construction in relation to settlement patterns and agricultural trends. Following the survey, the project will include a Multiple Property National Register Nomination for Agriculture-Related Resources in Kansas and nomination of five individual barns. Barns will not be listed on the National Register without written owner support.

Spencer grew up in Rogersville, Missouri and came to Kansas State University to attend the College of Architecture and Design. She lives on a small farm in rural Pottawatomie County and has her own Preservation Consulting business. Christy Davis, a fifth-generation Kansas who grew up on a farm near Sedgwick, Kansas, will be assisting in the project.