Barnard Banter Readership Information

Barnard, Kansas is receiving global exposure.  We have readers in the United States, Puerto Rico, Germany, and India.  Who knew we could be that interesting.

What the Barnard Banter Can Do For You

1.  Keep you up on Barnard news.

2.  You can comment on any of our articles...please be responsible and respectful when doing so.

3.  You can advertise things you have to give away or for sale.  There is no cost to do this.

4.  You can submit items for inclusion in the blog...just click on the TAZ link or the flowerlady link on the right of the page.  If you don't want to submit them by computer, we are working on a drop-off place in town.

5.  City council minutes will be published as they are approved and special notices will be published as we find out about them.

6.  There are so many other things that can happen with it.  Have a suggestion?  Just let us know.

Remember, the Barnard Banter is always free to read and free to advertise in.  Just let us know.  After all, the banter is always about Barnard.

Ione Hart

Barnard resident, Ione Hart, suffered a stroke recently.  She is recovering nicely and will be moved to the nursing home in Lincoln this Friday or Saturday if you wish to send a card or visit.

Barnard Community Spotlight: Jan Dowlin

                Many know her as the “Flower Lady.”  Others know here as a teacher, council member, and a very busy person.  Jan Dowlin is definitely a highly visible person in the Barnard community.

                Janet Nulle and Leo Dowlin met when Leo worked for the Nebraska Fish and Game Department.  Their roommates were seeing each other and Leo and Janet met as the result of a blind date.  It must have worked out very well because they married in 1967 and were married for 42 years.  They have two children, Amber and Marin.

                After marrying Leo, Jan fully embraced Kansas as her home and the Dowlin family as her own.  The Dowlins folded her in and she became and still is close to Leo’s sister, Lenora Howe.  Their relationship is described as being sisters.

                Leo’s job took them to many communities in Kansas before they came back to Barnard.  They lived in El Dorado where Jan also taught.  They moved to Manhattan where their children were born.  In Carbondale, they built their own home and lived there for a number of years before having to move to Independence.  That move was described as the hardest of the moves because of building the home that they had hoped to plant roots with.  Independence is where Leo lost his foot because of an infection he developed during his job as a fishery biologist.  From there, they moved to the Barnard area.  Jan began working at the Beloit juvenile facility as a para-educator and then taught English there until her retirement.

                Jan has suffered personal loss and challenges that have not shaken her character and her commitment to family and life.  Her biological mother died from cancer when Jan was about five years old.  Jan herself is a breast cancer survivor who is an inspiration to others simply by surviving and continuing to do what she wants and loves to do.  Her step-mother died just one month before Leo died.

                Leo and Jan enjoyed gardening together.  In addition to their huge vegetable gardens, they also planted containers of flowers around Barnard.  Leo grew the flowers from seeds and Jan planted them.  Their relationship was very much a partnership.

                Jan’s work on the Barnard city council was unplanned.  She originally was selected on a temporary basis but has continued to be re-elected.  She has served for about eight years.  Jan has firmly worked towards the betterment of Barnard and also worked towards bringing its citizens together.  The annual fish fry is proof of that.

                Another one of Jan’s gifts is that of a good listener.  She may not agree with you but she will give you a chance to voice your opinions.  She believes that things can be worked out if people on either side of the issue will come together in the mindset of working it out.  Jan’s philosophy of life has been summed up as love God; love your family; make sure your family is taken care of; and no matter what happens, you can work through anything as long as you do it together.

Little Porch on the Prairie: What is Preservation?

     My dad and I built a new porch for my house this summer.  I have to think that it must be the best porch that this house has ever had...including when the house was new.  Dad designed it with an incredible amount of reinforcement and I have no doubt that it may very well outlast the house.  That is why I call it "Little Porch on the Prairie.". Someday when Barnard is long gone and no one even remembers the name...someone will be driving their flying car across the prairie and see this lone porch...without a house...standing all by itself in the middle of empty prairie.

      But what if it wasn't without a house...or wasn't without a town?  That is where preservation comes in.  I am not sure if many people really know what historic preservation is.  It is the preservation or protection of historical structures and other objects.  Many know this but many do not know that part of preservation deals with adaptive reuse of a building.  Though buildings can be repurposed, many buildings of architectural and/or community significance are needlessly lost.  What people fail to think of or care about is that once it is gone, it is gone for good.

      Barnard, Kansas has lost many buildings because there was no immediate use for them and the owners or government bodies were not of a mind to find a purpose or a new owner that was in that frame of thought.  The town is poised to lose much more.  Barnard has always been a rather small community but was a center of commerce and entertainment in its area of Lincoln County.  It had two grocery stores, a movie theater, meat locker, hardware stores, other business outlets, and many beautiful houses.  Now, the downtown area is virtually gone, the post office is in danger of possible closure, the schools closed many years ago, many houses have been demolished, and the art deco WPA built water tower...still in use...is threatened with demolition because the city council is not of the mindset to save it.  One council member went as far as to say "If the historic activists want to save it, let them pay for it".   It may be a necessity for that to happen as Barnard is severely financially challenged but this council member has stood in the way of other preservation projects.  Barnard is now a very pale shadow of its former self; however, potential is still there waiting for people with vision and the ambition to make a change.

     I own a house in Barnard (pictured at the top).  Admittedly, I have had a heavy interest in historic preservation from a young age.  I found that the older buildings have a character to them that modern buildings lack.  My little house continues to amaze me with its features.  My house is termed a Workman’s Foursquare, which implies that it was built as a working class home.  Typically, these houses only had decorative woodwork in the public areas that visitors would see.  The rest of the house would be done with plank baseboards and door trim.  My house has decorative woodwork throughout the entire structure, including the upstairs which is also another unusual feature of a Workman’s Foursquare.  The original woodwork is nearly intact but other original features as an acid etched glass window from the front door, has been destroyed.  Other untypical features of the house include bay windows in the living room and a downstairs bedroom.

     A former resident lends to the house’s historical value.  A longtime occupant of the house was Ott Saunders who ran the local icehouse and was the constable and water superintendent.  It was Mr. Saunders who conceived of and commissioned the building of the art deco water tower mentioned above.

      There are many benefits to preservation.  Some people may prefer new construction to rehabilitation of an existing structure but in rural communities where property values are depressed, new construction is not a viable option.  In any community, an important source of income is property taxes.  If new construction is not a viable, then rehabilitating an older property will increase its value and will increase tax value which will reflect directly on tax revenue.  The likelihood that someone will invest in new construction in an area where their investment will not appreciate in value and where the value of the property will never increase to the value of the cost of construction is minimal.  If people cannot build new, then no jobs are created.  However, if those same people decide that rehabilitating an existing structure is more financially viable, money is spent on materials or labor and that money finds its way into local economies.  Eighty-five percent (85%) of all new jobs are created by small business.  Unless heavy public subsidies are provided, building new and renting cheap are not viable options.  However, rehabilitating an existing structure can provide less expensive rent which lowers the start up costs of a business and makes opening a business in that community much more attractive and possible.  This in turn brings in that tax revenue and money into the local economy.  Historic preservation is a part of both economic development and community development.

     A rising trend in housing is that people desire more character in their homes and businesses instead of the sterility found in tract housing and strip malls.  Rehabilitating historic properties satisfies that demand and attracts people to communities that otherwise would not be attracted by tract housing and bland commercial properties.  The characteristics of historic properties also attract tourists.  Sometimes, particularly in the depressed rural economies such as Barnard, tourism is the only industry left to tap into.

      Historic preservation is not just the practice of keeping old stuff around.  It also involves repurposing.  If a structure can take on a new purpose that keeps it relevant to the community, it can grow in value and ensure that it is used and maintained for generations to come.   Preservation does not mean that a person or a place is living in the past but it does mean that the heritage of the community is being taken forward in to the future.  It is not only important to look to the future but to remember where you came from.  A community's history is part of its identity and for every building or structure that is demolished, part of that identity is lost.

     A key element of historic preservation is adaptive reuse.  The process of adaptive reuse is adapting an older building or structure for a new use.  The primary function of the structure can be changed while maintaining the elements that make the structure unique.  Adaptive reuse can save energy and resources.  The need for new materials is reduced by reusing the shell and structure of an existing building.  The cost and energy of acquiring and producing these new materials can be reduced.  If the existing structure is reused, the labor costs associated with building a new structure is greatly reduced.

     Barnard has a great example of a structure that is a candidate for adaptive reuse.  The art deco water tower that was built in the 1930’s by the WPA is a structure that can be adapted to a new use.  Not only is the structure itself important in design but the process of its building is significant.  The water tower was begun as a WPA project but was left incomplete because of the dismantling of that program.  A private contractor was hired to complete it but the substandard work of the contractor is easily discernable from the WPA portion of the structure.  It is one of three of that style of tower built in Kansas and the only remaining one.  People have come from surrounding states just to see that tower.  An adaptive reuse of this structure could be as an observation tower.  Replacing the functionality of the water tower with a new replacement (as the city plans to do without the preservation element) would take away the load of the weight of the water on the structure.  The concrete tank could be breached for a stairway and viewing portals.  Tourism would benefit the local café and provide opportunities for new businesses to open.  The community as a whole would benefit.

     Another Barnard structure that is ready for adaptive reuse is the old school.  It is currently used as a barn for farm implements.  I guess that is sort of an adaptive reuse of the building though it does not benefit the community as a whole.  A possible use for this building would be as a general auditorium for jamborees, a fitness center, wedding and funeral facility as there are no large facilities in Barnard, and a community library.  All of these uses would bring people into the community both as visitors and as residents.  There would become purpose in coming to Barnard.

     Barnard currently has a policy of tearing down and hoping people come to build new.  That policy has failed Barnard miserably.  Tearing down structures without replacing them is insuring Barnard’s death.   Historic preservation, vision, and determination can save this little town from extinction and promote growth…and keep my new front porch from becoming the “Little Porch on the Prairie.”

Puppies Free to GOOD Homes

I have some puppies free to good homes.  The mother is a German Shepherd/Heeler mix and the father is a registered Australian Shepherd.  They have had all their shots.  We have NINE of them and they were born on April 11, 2011.

Return Policy:

If for any reason the dog doesn't fit your family, do not take it to the pound...BRING IT BACK TO US.  We will find a new home for it.  We want you AND the dog to be happy.

For more information call:

Travis Zirkle at 785-862-1516
Jeff Wallace at 316-708-0142
Monty Fuller at 785-792-6361

The puppies are at Monty's in Barnard and are available for viewing.

Annette's Country Kitchen New Hours of Operation

Monday  11 am to 2 pm
Tuesday  11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm  TACO NIGHT
Wednesday  CLOSED
Thursday 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm   BURGER NIGHT
Friday     11 am to 2 pm
Saturday  11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm  First and Third Saturdays are STEAK NIGHT
Sunday    11 am to 2 pm on the Second and Fourth Sundays