As was discussed in other pages, almost all buildings in South were made from brick. This series of barns was no exception. I was unable to find the building date, but this building was demolished in the summer of 1987.
The memory of this building is very special to me. Being that it is in close proximity to the house that I grew up in, there were many excursions to this site. It was almost scary to enter this unused building. It had a dark stairwell, the plaster walls were crumbling, and there were always the sounds of animals scurrying around. One vivid memory for me is of the mummified rat head that was bigger than a softball. My friends and I would always manage to look into the stall that held this legendary creature.
Another memory is of hitting the tin roof of the barn with rocks and apples. From my friend Tim's driveway, we would hit rocks with broomsticks or pipes into the field between our street and the hog barn. It was always a great accomplishment to land one on the roof! We also used long sticks or old fishing poles as apple throwers. We would stick a green apple from my yard onto the end of the stick or pole and whip them into the field for the cows to eat. This barn was often a target as well.
The barn itself was built in an L shape. A long wing running north and south held stalls for the sows. There was a farrowing house that ran east and west. The main building looked similar to a residence. It held offices and living quarters for the hog man. The building was heated by a boiler as opposed to straight wood heat. The field adjoining this barn also was used for keeping hogs.
Picture courtesy of the Amana Heritage Society. This is how the hog barn would have looked from the Marketplace parking lot. (Looking East)