I-80 Barn Lost

In 2020 we learned a new term for a storm – “derecho”. Defined as “a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds”. August 10, 2020 found Bureau County in the path of such a derecho. The derecho started in Nebraska and swept thru Iowa, Illinois and Indiana leaving a path of destruction. It flattened crops, took down trees and destroyed buildings. Here in Bureau County, we were not spared the wrath of the storm as trees, crops, and buildings sustained damage and it took down our 9-1-1 dispatch tower. It also destroyed a landmark. That landmark was the barn that stood on the hill at Mile Marker 47 on east bound side of I-80.

Ever since I-80 was built through Bureau County back in the 1960’s, the barn stood proudly on the hill overlooking the interstate at Mile Marker 47. At times travelers and locals could be seen parked alongside the interstate taking pictures of “the barn” and the windmill. Eventually the windmill succumbed to age and the weather and it came down, but the barn still stood and people still stopped and took pictures. The barn withstood the ice, snow and winds of the harsh Illinois winters and the rain, hail and windstorms of summer, but finally the derecho of 2020 struck the final blow and it collapsed. The remnants of the barn have been cleared away, but the barn will remain in our memories and in the pictures and drawings. The barn was at I-80 Mile Marker 47.