J.H. Manchester Round Barn, Round barn on State Route 385 near Waynesfield, Ohio.
The wooden structure rises 88 feet (27 meters) with a diameter of 102 feet (31 meters), incorporating double-hinged entrance doors and a domed gambrel roof covered in traditional shingles with central ventilation systems for hay storage.
Horace Duncan constructed the barn in 1908 for Jason Manchester during a period when Ohio farmers experimented with alternative building forms to improve productivity, and the property has remained with the Manchester family through successive generations since completion.
The structure served as a model for progressive farm management in rural Ohio communities, with its design reducing labor requirements through efficient feed distribution from the central core to animals housed along the outer walls.
The barn remains under private ownership by the Manchester family, and visitors may observe architectural details from the adjacent gravel driveway without entering the property or disturbing ongoing farming operations.
This property forms part of a collection with six neighboring round barns, creating the largest concentration of such agricultural structures in this region of Ohio and representing an unusual example of early twentieth-century experimental farm architecture.
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