Program shines light on “Central Illinois Barns of the 1940s"

Barn Keepers Board President Bill Kemp hosted “Central Illinois Barns of the 1940s”  in Nov. 12.

His talk was live-streamed on Zoom, because of pandemic restrictions on gatherings.

The event was free,  and open to the public.

Bill showcased many of the incredible barn photos and barn-related stories The Pantagraph published in the 1940s.

The McLean County Museum of History, where Bill serves as librarian, holds a collection of some 1 million Pantagraph photo negatives. The Museum is making high-resolution digital copies of negatives, and then posting them to the Illinois Digital Archives.

A barn near Ellsworth, circa 1945
New barn construction near Ellsworth, McLean County, late October 1945.
The Barn Keepers Board convened October 8, 2020, at the FS Building on Hershey Road in Bloomington.

Looking ahead: Plans under way for fall 2021 barn tour

Faced with the specter of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing, the Barn Keepers board decided to cancel the September 2020 Barn Tour. This would have been our 15th consecutive tour, with the spotlight this year on the northeastern McLean County townships of Anchor and Cropsey. Now, the board turns its attention to fall 2021.

Until then, please enjoy here, our 34-page 2019 Tour Guide. The booklet features histories of the Sept. 14, 2019 tour’s featured barns, as well as information about several area sites including Patton Cabin and the old Blacksmith Shoppe.

Barn Keepers is a McLean County, Illinois-based not-for-profit organization devoted to the documentation, preservation, restoration, and celebration of area barns.

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