Harvesting History: Corncribs tell story of Iowa agriculture

Motorists can watch history change just by looking out the window as they drive the Iowa countryside.

Some of those changes are visible in buildings used for corn storage, segueing from turn-of-the-20th Century corncribs to the modern steel bins of today.

“The transition from husk storage to kernel storage is reflected in the buildings on the farm,” says Dick Thomas, 80, a retired American history professor at Cornell College in Mount Vernon. “That's what we see from the highway.”

Thomas, a self-described historian of the landscape, will be showing photos and sharing the history of corn storage during a presentation Sunday at The Carl and Mary Koehler History Center, 615 First Ave. SE.

The free presentation, at 2:30 p.m., follows The History Center's annual meeting and coincides with the center's “Corn County” exhibit.

Corncribs - oftentimes wooden buildings with slats for ventilation - were used to dry and store corn still on the cob.

The slats rectified the storage problem of mold and elevating the corn in upper levels of the building kept it out of reach of another concern: rats.

Thomas says the buildings represent a bygone era, when husking bees were social events and winning a threshing crew's corn-picking contest defined manhood.

Similar to the windmills and horse barns that also defined that era, corncribs are easily overlooked in the mix of outbuildings on a farm.

Many have transitioned to storing equipment or have become neglected and dilapidated.

Thomas shows photos of the utilitarian buildings that represent a surprising variety.

A weathered corncrib built in 1910 has three openings for elevators to load the corn into the upper level. Located between Hampton and Mason City, the building is the largest wooden corncrib Thomas has found in Eastern Iowa.

That contrasts with a single corncrib he photographed in the middle of a field. Just 5-feet-wide by 20-feet-long, the building was used to store corn where it was grown, so it didn't have to be transported.

Some had doors large enough for a wagon to enter to access the corn from inside.

One  corncrib on a farm south of Mount Vernon is made of cement. Ventilation perforations were made in the wet masonry with corncobs.

“It's solid, no question about it,” Thomas says.

Many corncribs were made with enough capacity to store all the corn raised on the farm.

“He was only raising 40 acres of corn,” Thomas says of farmers from that era. “That corn was raised primarily to feed animals.”

Fast-forward to World War II and horses begin disappearing from the rural landscape with the modern era of agriculture.

The size of farms explodes as gas-powered combines harvest and shell corn in record time.

Corncribs give way to circular bins used to store shelled corn, with fans for circulation.

“The form changes with the function,” Thomas says.

Modern farms typically have a house, machine shed and grain bin, he notes.

No one keeps track of how many corncribs remain in Iowa, though the numbers are undoubtedly shrinking.

“The rural landscape is really changing,” Thomas says. “We're watching them slowly, surely disintegrate and move off the landscape.”

FYI:

“Corncribs - Changes We Can See” will be presented at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, at The Carl & Mary Koehler History Center, 615 First Ave. SE. The hourlong presentation coincides with the “Corn County” exhibit, which runs through May 21.

Other events in the series include:

1:30-2:30 p.m. Feb. 17, “Transporting All That Corn” by Peter Jaynes.

6:30-9:30 p.m. Feb. 24, Viewing of “Food, Inc.” followed by panel discussion; hosted by Kirkwood Community College in the Lecture Hall of Kirkwood's Horticulture Building.

Noon to 1 p.m. March 17, Book Club discussion of “The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” by Michael Pollan.

1:30-2:30 p.m. April 9, “Archaeological Evidence of Native American Uses for Corn” by The Office of the State Archaeologist.

1:30-2:30 p.m. April 21, “Your Grandpa and Grandma's Farm” by Rich Tyler.

All events are free; donations are welcomed.