Remembering Lover of Round Barns

When I saw Luella Hazeltine's obituary in The Gazette this week I recognized the name immediately. I had done a story on the Toddville woman, who was 90.

Plus, a little red round barn sitting on a field of green grass that she made and sent to me has decorated my work station for years.

You see, Luella and her sister, Arlenne Mukulas of Cedar Rapids, loved round barns. And that was mentioned in her obituary.

I find it delightful to run across people who have unusual hobbies like this.

Here is the column I wrote about them that appeared nine years ago on May 29, 2001:

Round Iowa:

Sisters find adventure in tracking down unusual barns and their owners

Some folks collect matchbooks while others gather satisfaction with coins or stamps. Arlene Mukulas of Cedar Rapids and her sister, Luella Hazeltine of Toddville, prefer more of an adventure. They photograph round barns.

Why, just look at their respective wrist watches and you always know what time it is - time to search for more round barns. Arlene's watch depicts the Holtkamp round barn built in 1919 near Salem in Henry County while Luella's watch shows the Secrest octagonal barn south of West Branch.

"We're interested in anything," says Luella, 71.

"But we love round barns," adds Arlene, 81.

Yes, these sisters, who grew up on a farm on the southeast edge of Cedar Rapids, get a thrill out of seeing covered bridges or large painted murals or even lighthouses if they can find them. Yet, round barns captured their imagination eight years ago after they saw an Iowa Public Television special about the Secrest barn.

Their quest has taken them to 98 of Iowa's 99 counties. (Mitchell County is the lone holdout.)

"We'd go whenever we had time, whenever we felt like it," Arlene says.

Not only do they photograph the barns, but they try to find the owners.

"The farmers who own round barns would be insulted if you didn't stop and talk to them," Luella says. "They love telling you all about them."

The women's "bible" for round barns is the 1983 book, "Without Right Angles: The Round Barns of Iowa," by Lowell Soike. It shows beautiful photographs and provides

information on many of Iowa's round and semi-round barns.

The women made photocopies of barns on their "must-see" list, including those on the National Register of Historic Places, so they could take additional notes. And then they kept looking and looking and photographing their subjects made of wood, bricks and

clay tiles.

The plastic pages of their scrapbook, arranged in alphabetical order by county, provide general directions to each barn and give them names, usually associated with the builder or the owner.

There's the Johnson 16-sided barn in Washington County, the Redburn dodecagon near New Albin in Allamakee County, the Murphy round near Buckingham in Tama County, the Grimes octagon near West Union in Fayette County, the Roberts octagon near Sharon Center in Johnson County, the Rownd round on South Main Street in Cedar Falls, the Kirkpatrick round northwest of Coggon in Delaware County . . .

"We found a lot of barns that Lowell didn't have in his book," Luella adds proudly. "They aren't all in very good shape."

As an example, the women discovered an 11-sided barn in Kossuth County (northwest Iowa). It had originally been 12-sided, but two sides were flattened into one so a larger door could be installed.

While some friends think they're crazy for taking off whenever they feel like it to search for barns, their sister, Billie, who died last year, often went with them. Also, two grandnieces, Rachael Strickel, 11, and d'Lyse Abu-kaf, 9, now of Tampa, Fla., enjoyed the adventures when they lived in Marion.

One weekend, when nobody was home, Rachael expressed her disappointment.

"This was not a very good trip," she said. "We didn't find any farmers to chit-chat with."

Little d'Lyse, who was just 2 years old when she first tucked the 35-mm camera in her hands to wander around barns looking for the perfect angle to photograph them, also loved conversation.

"Is it on the National Register?" she would ask. "What do you use it for? When was it built? How ... "

Arlene and Luella chuckle at the recollections. They know their adventures provided a lifetime of memories for the young girls, too.

Round barns, or semi-round barns, have been around since George Washington had a 16-sided barn built in 1793. They didn't become popular, however, until the late 1800s, according to the historical division of the National Park Service. It was then that "agricultural colleges (such as Iowa State University in Ames) and experiment stations taught progressive farming methods based on models of industrial efficiency.

"From this time until well into the 1920s, round barns appeared on farms throughout the country, flourishing especially in the Midwest."

The circular form of a round barn offered the largest possible storage area for the materials used, was stronger than rectangular barns against wind storms and could be built with self-supporting roofs so the interiors were free of obstructing supports. In

addition, the circular layout was deemed more efficient for the farmer, who could work in a continuous direction.

Cats, however, might have thought differently.

"Farmers love to tell you the joke - the cat goes crazy in the barn looking for a corner to go to the bathroom in," Luella says.

There's also the one where the farmer can't find a corner to prop up his pitchfork.

Luella (left) and Arlene are such round barn fanatics that they've built birdhouses and other miniature buildings in the famous round shape with "caps" for roofs. They've also expanded their search to include Wisconsin and Illinois. And their brother,

Ralph Heath of Nevada City, Calif., sent them a photograph of a round barn in Alaska.

"If there are any others out there, we'd be glad to find out about them," Arlene says.

"Oh, yeah," says Luella. "We don't want to miss out on anything."

"Sometimes," Arlene says, "We'd go out on an all-day trip and we'd only find two barns."

"But," adds Luella, "it was a great time."