The Barnhart Farm house was built sometime in the mid to late 1800s in Central Champaign County, IL about 1 1/2 miles south of the current Urbana town limts. These pages give an general overview of the history of the house, some of the people who have lived here, and how it has happened.
General time line for the house
Some of these dates are educated guesses. I hope to spend some time this summer and see if I can narrow these down a bit.
| Mid-late 1800s | House is built. The age is a guess based on the timber used in the original construction. |
| 1916 | House and land purchased by Barnhart Family |
| 1928 | Henry & Jesse Barnhart remodel house, adding most of the current 2nd floor |
| mid 1930s | Barnhart family moves 1 mile south. House occupied by tenant farmers |
| March 1956 | Harry and Patricia Barnhart (my parents) move to farm. Eldest daughter Amber is 1 yr old. Most windows leak badly. Mom tells stories of snow piling up in corners in the winter. |
| Winter 1956-57 | Ceiling in kitchen collapses. Family (Trent is now born) move back in with Grandpa Barnhart while Dad and Grandpa put up new ceiling and walls in kitchen. Old chimney in kitchen also removed. |
| 1962 | Coal furnance is replaced by fuel oil furnance. |
| 1957-66 | Various improvements to the house. Most windows are replaced. |
| 1966 | Windows in NE bedroom replaced. (Mom tells me that Dad had to finish the project as she would not come home from the hospital with Donald until the windows were in |
| 1969-72 | East porch removed and addition built. Dad ripped the porch off while Mom was gone one weekend. She wasn't happy when she returned home. Amber and Trent (along with friends) do a lot of work to finish the addition. |
| mid 70s | Dad and Trent put up wood (redwood I believe) siding on the house one summer. |
| mid 90s | New roof on the house |
| mid 90s | Upstairs Bathroom remodeled |
| 2000 | Brett (along with Karen, Donald, and Amber) inherit the farm house |
| late 2000 | Brett and Family move to Homer for a year and rent the house out |
| early 2002 | Brett moves back to farm. Renter's water bed leaked, causing lots of damage to kitchen ceiling. |
| late 2002/early 2003 | Floor in front of kitchen sink become "soft". Start of the remodel project by removing the kitchen cabinates and tearing up that area of the floor. |
| June, 2003 | Brett get's job in Springfield.. moves for about a year |
| Winter 2004 | Furnace stops working and many water pipes are frozen. Living room ceiling collapses and major water damage occurs in living and basement. |
| April, 2004 | Brett & Family decide to return to Champaign and the farm house remodel begins in earnest. Walls are torn down to studs, everything rebuilt (new electrical, plumbing, HVAC, siding, windows, flooring, walls, etc) |
| June, 2004 | Brett buys Karen's share of the Farm house |
