For 15 year old Elmer Carlson, 1929 was a very memorable year. It was the year he and his family built the “new” barn on their farm near Maple Island Station in May Township, six miles from Marine on St. Croix, MN.



Building the barn took a lot of planning and hard work, and the family was very resourceful. They cut trees on their property for lumber, and with the help of many neighbors they hauled the logs by horse and sleigh to the sawmill in Marine. They purchased a large used storage shed, dismantled it piece by piece, hauled it to the farm, and reused it all. They dug up the stone foundation from the old barn and reused the stones for the foundation of the new barn. During the year long project they continued to run the farm.



Elmer wrote the story later in life to share it with future generations. We hope to keep this amazing story alive for the Carlson family and anyone that's interested in a look back to an earlier time.