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Bank Barn


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Aw Chad, you can't believe Wikipedia. Everybody knows that a bank barn is simply a barn that's been converted to a bank.

Here's an aerial view of the Palmer Township branch of the bank barn I use for my business, First Star Bank. They have two drive through lanes, but I've never seen the outer lane open.

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A more common barn variety is the book barn. At one time there were several around here, but they're a dying breed. The largest one, the Tatamy Book Barn has been converted to a yoga studio. Since there are none left around here, I had to find a book barn example on the internet.

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The rarest of all is the Christmas barn. That's what the barn with the deathtrap stockrooms was. The property was slated to be razed for a strip mall, but the sour economy halted those plans and gave it a new lease on life.

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A bank barn is either built into a hillside or a ramp is created to easily enter the upper level with wagon loads. The upper level is hay and grain storage and the lower level is for livestock. I've inspected over 4500 barns and maybe about 15% weren't bank barns.

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Bill,

Would you agree that of the 85% that are bank barns maybe half or more involved changing a grade to accomodate access? In many areas the bank barn may be the most practical way/style to build, yet in the flat lands moving a little dirt made access easy.

Michigan barns had most of the grain storage on the lower levels, except corn and that was always stored in a crib that was attached or free-standing.

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rules...grrr..look for blue writing...double grrrr...cant beleive I fell for the old blue writing link thing...okay I am under control...

I have limted internet words/vocabulary. I am working on it,,, somone sent me a link (must check its colour) with useful shortforms and abbreviations etc,,, sorry for that.....moving on.

All, thanx for the great responses . I will now go back and click on the link.

Thank you for your patience

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Bill,

Would you agree that of the 85% that are bank barns maybe half or more involved changing a grade to accomodate access? In many areas the bank barn may be the most practical way/style to build, yet in the flat lands moving a little dirt made access easy.

Michigan barns had most of the grain storage on the lower levels, except corn and that was always stored in a crib that was attached or free-standing.

Hi Les,

I see just about 35% of the bank barns here that have earthen ramps created for upper level access. There's plenty of sloping hills on farms here. The "downhill" side always faces south, with only one odd exception. Occasionally there's a ramp and a "bridge".

Here the upper level, center bay floors were used for threshing. The bays flanking the fleshing bays were "hay mows" That were filled to the rafters in the fall. The cantilevered forebay was used for grain storage. There's usually a drop chute, from the roof rafters all the way down to the lower level, for supplying the stalls with bedding and feed for the livestock.

Mongo,

There were many homes in colonial PA built into hillsides, like my first house, circa 1690. They're simply referred to as "bank houses".

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