The Bert Leedy Round Barn at the Fulton County Historical Society, 2019. Photo: Chris Light, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fulton County once had 17 round barns, and its historical society carried one of them off a farm to keep it. The title “Round Barn Capital of the World” was settled, as far as anyone can tell, by a polite letter.
The barn at the Fulton County Historical Society, on US 31 about four miles north of Rochester, was built in 1924 by the C.V. Kindig construction firm for a farmer named Bert Leedy. His barn had burned, and his brother Ezra, who already owned a round one, argued that a round barn would go up faster. It is two stories, with a cupola on top.
In 1989 a tornado tore the roof off. The owners, the Paxtons, gave the barn to the society on the condition that it be moved. The society’s own account puts the move and restoration at 1989 to 1991 and the bill at about $65,000. Accounts differ on some details, including a 2015 storm that damaged the barn again, and on how it was repaired. Today it holds old farm equipment and tools.
It was one of many. Indiana’s first round barn went up in 1874, the state’s peak year was 1910, and the last was built in 1936. The Kindig crews built most of Fulton County’s. The society says only eight county barns survive. You can see one more from the road: the 1914 John Haimbaugh barn, owned by a family trust.
The title is the best part of the story. The county’s Round Barn Festival began in 1971, and its claim stood until 1992, when it learned that Vernon County, Wisconsin, had counted 20 round barns in a 1982 survey. Shirley Willard wrote to the Vernon County Historical Society, which agreed Fulton should keep the name. The society’s page puts the reasoning plainly: “the largest number does not always make a place the capital or Chicago would be the capital of Illinois.”
The festival was founded by Doris Hood and Bill Myers; we could not confirm current dates. The society’s own event now is Round Barn Days, a car, truck and bike show on its grounds. Society pages disagree on museum hours, so call ahead: 574-223-4436.