Relocate the Carriage Barn

Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society is raising funds to relocate a historic carriage barn from Farmington, Michigan, to our campus in Pontiac, 30 miles away. Time is very short, and the original funding for this effort has fallen through.

To move this barn it must be disassembled and moved via truck to our campus and then reassembled there, or, if another location is found in Farmington, it can be returned before being reassembled. The important part is this: We want this building saved, and used to teach future generations about its history, its importance to its original owners, and to Farmington.

So what makes it so valuable?

This is a 128 year old carriage barn.  It is a unique example of this type of barn that's in many ways unmodified from its original use.  These barns were common in towns and cities - it has stalls for horses,  feed chutes, and a hayloft that are original to the building, along with a "garage" for a carriage.

This barn is in such good shape that to lose this as a teaching tool and a historic structure would be a very big loss to the historic preservation community.

But we need help. There's no budget, and very, very little time. The barn's current location is being developed as a restaurant, and the development is on hold until something can be done with the barn. It needs to be moved, or the developer will simply tear it down.

Our goal is to raise approximately $30,000 to move the barn, which will include hiring a reputable, insured contractor to properly record and disassemble the barn, hiring a (very big) truck to move the disassembled building to Pontiac, and store it for future reassembly, probably in 2019. We will probably need additional funds to pour a foundation and reassemble the building at that time, but for now, we're just focusing on saving it from destruction.

Any donations over and above the $30,000 mark will be kept in a fund designated for preservation and management of the barn.

More information about the barn can be found on our website at https://www.ocphs.org/the-farmington-barn/.