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Guttau family barns reprise
This German immigrant had big ideas. The
three-story Pottawattamie barn, designed by Detlef David Guttau, was built in
1890. It’s like a three-story house except it’s a barn. Note the multiple
windows on all three levels. The top level was for hay, with a hay door on the
east side. The second level had stalls for 16 horses and space for carriages.
The ground level had six stanchions for dairy cattle and later used until 2012
for beef cattle.
It
was featured in Blog #61 (11/13/22) but an update will emphasize its continuing
importance in the history of Iowa barns. It was first re-painted in 1946, again
in 2000, and lastly in 2025. The most recent paint job makes it look as if it
was just built yesterday. All that is missing now are horses and cattle.
The
Cedar-shingle roof on the south side, visible here was replaced in 1955,
sixty-five years after it was built, and the north side replaced with a metal
roof in 1980. Concrete blocks replaced the original limestone foundation in the
1980s and other major repairs were made in the early 2000s.
The barn for hogs, above, built in 1927,
was in use until 1989 for 30 sows bred twice a year, with a maximum of 1400
hogs sometimes in both barns. Both the barn and hog house are used today for
storage and as homes for their resident cats.
The
fourth generation Guttau family, Gary, his wife Dee (deceased January 27, 2026)
and son Chad live here at 31082 Dogwood Rd., Treynor. The farm will be honored
by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation as a Heritage Farm (150 years in the same
family ownership) in 2027. The Guttau barns live on as outstanding examples of
Iowa’s farming heritage.
Pigs and more
Farmers raise pigs for profit as a food source. In Iowa, in March 2025, there were 24.3 million pigs on thousands of Iowa farms, and nationally there were 74,512 million pigs. We don’t emphasize pigs as a symbol of the New Year, although they have been a well-known symbol of good luck and happiness for many years in other countries.
The New Year postcard below is from Hungary. Our Hungarian friend indicates that pigs represent good fortune because they root out the fortune from the ground. This young man is hoping for great good fortune, with all the pigs that are following him. On the other hand, she says that Hungarians don’t eat chicken on New Year’s because chickens scratch away the fortunes and don’t eat fish either because fish swim away with the fortunes.
Also attached are two German postcards sent in the early 20th century to commemorate the holiday. Snow pigs. What a novel idea!
Happy New Year however you might have celebrated the holiday. May 2026 be a good year for all of you.
