Arcadia Round Barn Gets a Facelift
by Richard Stephens, Jr.
James Scott (left) and Dana Holman (right) re-panel the Round Barn in Arcadia in Dec 2023. Work completed on Feb 9, 2024.
Workers replaced the Round Barn’s lowest nine feet of wood siding around its entire circumference between Dec. 2023 and Feb. 2024, then repainted it to the roof. Dana Holman, whose company, Holman Construction, is the primary contractor, estimated the repair would add another 30 years of life to the 1898 landmark which sits on Route 66 and receives 40,000 visitors a year.
Repairs cost $110,100. A cost-share grant from the National Park Service’s (NPS) Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program given in June 2023 provided $30,000 and the Arcadia Historical and Preservation Society is contributing the rest. Ann Young, its President and grant writer, proudly stated, “We got the only one that was awarded within the state of Oklahoma.”
Just like William Odor and his crew did in 1898 to build the barn and Luke Robison and the “Over-the-Hill Gang” did between 1988-1992 to completely rebuild it, the planks were bent to accommodate the barn’s round shape. This time, however, the method changed. Starting early December, Holman and James Scott, the primary carpenters, removed two rows of rotting and warped side boards at a time and replaced them with new ones. Tarps covered any missing boards at night to keep rain and wind from coming inside.
Holman explained how the boards were bent. “So, I came up with the idea of steaming the wood and did some studying up on it…I built a steam box. It was 17-foot long ‘cause our material was a little over 16 [feet]. I have four steamers running on it and it runs about 200 degrees…we could put about six to seven pieces of siding in there at one time…”
The steam box built by Dana Holman.
The boards would steam for about an hour, be removed, and according to Dustin Ward, a volunteer who watched the process, “they would place the wood [against the barn’s frame] and nail one end of it and then just bend it around and nail this part and bend some more…”
The custom milled yellow pine boards use tongue and groove joinery, don’t have knotholes, and are 14-16 feet long and 5 ¼” wide. About 1,700 square feet of siding was installed. Holman used nails, not screws, as Odor and Robison did.
The siding replacement completed on Feb. 2 and the caulking and painting, on Feb. 9. Painters added a gray primer to the new wood, then “Round Barn Red” paint, as Eric Grounds called it, to the entire barn. Grounds Painting of Oklahoma City repainted the barn.
Young and Linda Simonton, Past President of the Arcadia Historical Society, are thrilled with Holman’s repair. Simonton said, “This guy was on it. Holman does an excellent job” and “made a detailed and reasonable bid.”
The Historical Association wants to finish replacing the rest of the siding, but haven’t decided how they will fund it.
Ward is happy with the repair. “It’s an important Oklahoma landmark and we want it to last and we want it to…have a good appearance for those that come and visit us.”
Round Barn's re-siding and painting completed on Feb 9, 2024. It took two months to repair.
