AUBURN, Ind. – A dismantled 1860s-era northern Allen County barn will find a new purpose a few miles away in southern DeKalb County.

The barn, originally built near a saw- and gristmill, was part of a land acquisition by ACRES Land Trust. The organization didn’t have a use for the barn and began searching for groups that might have a need for it. The DeKalb County Horsemen’s Association had such a need and acquired the barn last year.

The barn was dismantled last fall. It will be rebuilt south of Auburn on property owned by the horsemen’s association.

While ACRES sometimes keeps buildings on the properties it acquires, the barn had a significant lean in the foundation, said Jason Kissel, the organization’s executive director. “We would have had to lift it up, redo the foundation and set it back down,” he explained. “We didn’t have a need for it. We could have had it removed and been paid for the beams, but they would have ended up as someone’s fireplace mantel. We wanted to see it stay intact. We really respect the land and its history. We also try to uphold the history of things on the land we inherit.”

ACRES, created in 1960, was the state’s first land trust. The membership-based nonprofit protects more than 7,200 acres of natural and working lands, primarily in Indiana, and in portions of Michigan and Ohio.

The barn was a part of a 34-acre parcel willed to ACRES by Dr. Frederick and Alfrieda Mackel. The Mackels were ACRES members and understood the barn might not remain on the property, Kissel said. ACRES spent two years looking for the right group for the barn.

Frederick Mackel discussed the plan to donate the land with his family, Kissel said. “I think he’d be really happy (with the barn going to the horsemen’s association),” he stated. “He wouldn’t have wanted us to spend the money to make the repairs that would have been needed.”

The barn was probably built by the owners of the nearby mill, said Mark Carunchia, secretary/treasurer of the horsemen’s association. The barn is 36 feet by 50 feet; a lean-to that wasn’t saved was 16 feet by 36 feet.

The horsemen’s association offers education on the history, use and care of draft animals. It provides seminars, public exhibitions and support of 4-H programs. The group also operates the Draft Animal Museum, which includes hundreds of antique pieces of horse farming history.

The association plans to use the barn as a classroom space, a display area and for storage, Carunchia said. “We’re thinking about maybe adding a hayloft since the original barn didn’t have that. We think there’s enough material from the original barn to do that. Maybe we can add a couple of horse stalls. We may move some of the implements we have in the museum to the barn that would have been in a barn of that era.”

The association hopes to use 80-90 percent of the original barn for reconstruction, he said. A new metal roof will be installed. The most recent roof at its former location was also steel and was not original. The barn had a basement at its original location but won’t at the new site. A concrete foundation will be poured, but the association hopes to use sections of the original wood floor to show how it was constructed.

“It will be the same structure, but the cover will be new,” Carunchia noted. “The sides will be the same, the interior posts will be the same, the beams will be the same. The doors will be there, but we’re not sure if we’ll use them as doors or use them in another way. The original floor had some massive boards, and we want to show what that was like. The beams were cut by hand on an old sawmill and not hand hewn. That’s a little different for a barn of that age.”

The association plans to have Barnwood Masters, of Mentone, Ind., do the reconstruction. The company also disassembled the barn. Barnwood Masters treated the wood pieces, now in storage, to protect against bugs.

The goal is to have the barn reconstructed in the next couple of years, Carunchia said. Once the organization has a site plan ready, it will begin fundraising. Carunchia estimates the cost of reconstruction plus site work will be in the six figures.

“If we had built a new building, when you get done, you have a pole barn with metal siding,” he noted. “This is the best of both worlds. It’s a historical building. It has history in the area. Once the barn is up, it will be well worth the effort. When barns can’t be saved, it just takes a bit of history away.”

For more information on the horsemen’s association, visit www.dekalbhorsemen.com.