16 photos below by Jamie Nygaard
A rural Bluffton barn constructed during the Civil War is moving to Lexington, Kentucky.
The barn is located on the Justin King farm on Bixel Road. King, said that barn was built in 1861, and possibly earlier.
He told the Icon that the 80-foot wide barn is being dismantled and will be reconstructed and used as a barn in the Lexington area.
Ohio Valley Barn Salvage, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, is in charge of the project.
The barn style – referred to as a bank barn – is typical to the Swiss barns in the Bluffton-Pandora area. Bank barns were constructed on a hill or sloped ground where the second floor uses the slop as an entrance.
The King farm was home to the Bluffton-Pandora area’s first Swiss immigrants, the Michael Neuenschwander family. The family settled there in 1833.
A plaque on Bixel Road near the lane entrance to the farm tells about the first Swiss settlers living on the property. A photo in this series shows that plaque, which was created by Peter Klassen at the 125th anniversary of Swiss settlers arriving in rural Bluffton.
Local lore says the Neuenschwander family was on their way to Indiana and one evening stopped beside a spring on the property, which they eventually purchased. Following the Neuenschwander arrive, hundreds of Swiss immigrants selected here.
