Municipal Heritage Site

Anderson Barn

Elton, Manitoba

Primary elevation, from the south, of the Anderson Barn, Forrest area, 2005

Primary elevation, from the south, of the Anderson Barn, Forrest area, 2005

Photo: Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, 2005

Built
1903
Recognized
1999
By
Local government

The register’s text, word for word

Description

The Anderson Barn, a large fieldstone and heavy timber structure completed in 1903, sits in a farmyard in the Forrest area of southwestern Manitoba. The municipal designation applies to the building and the quarter section on which it sits.

Heritage value

The Anderson Barn, with its vertical board-and-batten siding, fieldstone lower level with earthen ramp, and gable roof, is an excellent and well-preserved example of the Southern Ontario barn tradition brought to Manitoba as settlers moved west in the late nineteenth century. The barn retains virtually all the interior features that made it a state-of-the-art facility in its time. Its builder, William Anderson, originally from Elora, Ontario, settled on the site in 1889 and the property has been in the Anderson family since that time.

SourceRural Municipality of Elton By-law No. 1066, November 6, 1989

Character‑defining elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Anderson Barn site include:

  • its location in the Forrest area, two kilometres east of Highway 10 and with the building's placement at the entrance to a large farmyard

Key exterior elements that define the barn's traditional Southern Ontario style include:

  • the long two-storey-plus rectangular massing under a steep gable roof, with a gable-roofed addition on the east side and a shed-roofed extension in the southeast corner
  • the use of materials that distinguish the barn's twin functions, with the main-floor stable defined by solid fieldstone walls and the upper loft by board and batten over a heavy timber frame
  • the utilitarian accesses, including the loft's wide sliding main door centred on the north side, additional loft doorways on the east and south elevations and large wooden Dutch doors in the south fieldstone wall
  • the modest fenestration, consisting mainly of three- and four-pane windows in wooden surrounds, including diamond-shaped openings in the gable peaks

Key elements that define the stable's interior character and livestock-handling functions include:

  • the three-bay plan, delineated by north-south aisles, and on the north side an underground silo of concrete and stone accessed directly from the stable and a root cellar under the loft's drive-in ramp
  • the practical materials, fixtures and details, including the concrete flooring, the heavy plank stalls, troughs and pens throughout, the wooden chute, iron pegs, nameplates on the horse stalls, etc.

Key elements that define the loft's interior character include:

  • the large open layout with a small enclosure in the southeast corner for feed grain storage
  • the exposed heavy timber post-and-beam construction throughout
  • the large drive-in doorway accessed by a ramp of earth and stone and the apparatus used to lift loads from the hayrack, including an anchor pulley, rope netting and a sling pulley

End of the register’s text

Location

Elton, Manitoba, R0K, Canada

49.93972° N, 99.90346° W

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Nearby

All 3 places in Elton

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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.