Why a St. Louis Banker Spent Years Rebuilding a Historic Barn
Jim Dierberg, a St. Louis banker with German ancestry, first visited Hermann, Missouri, in 1971 after his wife Mary noticed an old-fashioned Maifest celebration there. What began as a visit to a small Gasconade County town turned into a decades-long restoration effort. Jim eventually repaired and repurposed more than 40 historic stone and brick buildings in Hermann, and the community secured a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
When the couple purchased Hermann Farm in 2002, they planned something larger: a stone barn meant to represent the typical German barns of the region in the mid-1800s. They hired Heritage Restorations, which dismantled frames from three 19th-century barns in Warren County, Pennsylvania. The timber was sent to Waco, Texas, for fumigation before being transported to Hermann, where Mennonite builders reassembled the three frames into a single barn.
The finished two-story structure, 96 by 64 feet, was built into a hillside and opened on Nov. 13, 2021. Inside, 55-foot hand-hewn posts rise through the threshing floor, and nine stalls beneath the forebay house rare Shire draft horses. The exterior combines 23 tractor-trailer loads of Kansas limestone with the work of Gasconade County stonemason Clark Glosser, creating 24-inch-thick walls that conceal insulation and wiring for warmth and light.
What the Dierberg Barn Preserves: Timber, Stone and a Rare Horse Breed
Three Pennsylvania Barns Become One Missouri Landmark
The Dierbergs did not simply build a reproduction. They used original 19th-century timber frames, and the vertical posts still show open mortises cut for wooden pegs — visible evidence of pre-industrial construction. That choice makes the building educational as well as functional, giving visitors a direct look at how early barns were joined before modern fasteners.
A Rare Horse Breed Housed in a Working Museum
The nine stalls for Shire draft horses are not decorative. With fewer than 1,500 of the animals left worldwide, the Dierbergs are using the farm to support a vanishing breed and to show the type of horse German settlers relied on for farm work. That gives the barn a practical conservation role beyond its architectural value.
The Stonework Carries Its Own History Lesson
The 23 loads of Kansas limestone and the rubble-stone masonry follow the style of German stonemasons from around 150 years ago. The builders placed insulation and wiring inside the thick walls, showing the project's balance between historical appearance and modern comfort for public events.
Hermann Farm's Deeper History Adds Context
The site predates the barn by more than a century. Charles Teubber, a German immigrant, established the homestead in 1847. His brother-in-law George Husmann became a major figure in Missouri's wine industry, and the later Kallmeyer family raised horses and mules on the farm for more than a century. The new barn extends that heritage rather than replacing it.
How to See the Hermann Farm Barn or Submit Your Own
The barn hosts public events, including talks on the ancient art of timber framing. The Dierberg Educational Foundation uses the structure to teach children and adults about life in the 1800s.
- Visit Hermann Farm in Gasconade County, Mo., to see the timber frame and Shire horses in person and check current event offerings.
- If you own a barn with a unique story — still working, repurposed or restored — send a photo and brief history to Missouri Ruralist for possible feature coverage.
Comments 0