Barn Again Books Reprinted for Centennial Celebration
May 8, 2008
TORRINGTON, WY -
As part of the centennial celebration for the City of Torrington, Eastern Wyoming College has reprinted the again, Barns! book, published in 2004 by the Community Education office.
The book features full color photos and histories of 56 area barns which were featured in the Barn Again project. Many volunteers worked on the project which was led by then Director of Community Connections, Maureen Reichert. Dottie and Marty Jungck, of Torrington, spent many hours photographing and obtaining histories for the project, while Editor Angie Babcock, and community members also participated in that process. Marty Jungck wrote a poem for the book which outlines the work of the committee.
Barns featured range from the Petsch Ranch barn to the south, near Meriden, WY, to the Thompson Ranch barn north of Lusk, WY. A Platte County barn is also included, that being the Chambers barn.
The book opens with the no longer standing barn from the historic Red Cloud Ranch near Jay Em, WY. The barn was built with lumber from Old Ft. Laramie. That ranch was established in 1879 by Bartlet and Rinker, who trailed cattle from Texas to Wyoming Territory. The ranch was named for Sioux Chief Red Cloud, whose tribe had camped along the creek near the ranch.
Other historic barns include the aforementioned Petsch and Chambers Ranch barns which were built before 1900, as was the Doc Fulton barn on the Bear Creek Road west of LaGrange, WY. Many barns in the Prairie Center area were built in the 1920's by that community's homesteaders who had arrived in the area around 1913.
Barns operating as businesses include the Torrington Livestock Commission Barn, Bronco Drilling/Wilson Trucking Barn, and the St. Joseph's Orphanage Barn.
The book was printed by High Plains Printing of Ogallala, NE. It is available in the EWC bookstore and Community Education offices as well as Vandel Drug.
