Granary

The granary was a place to store food for the animals on the farm. Farmers stored grains like oats and hay on the second floor of the building and sent these grains through chutes to the first floor when it was feeding time for the cattle and horses.

Marcella recalled that: “Today, a farmer presses a button and the feed automatically moves from its storage area into the troughs… Not so in the early days.” Henry Schumacher had to shovel oats and hay down the chutes for the cows and horses, and every morning he had to hand-feed the animals by scooping grains into their troughs. In the springtime, after feeding the animals and milking the cows, Henry had breakfast before setting out to the fields to plant oats and barley to grow more feed for his animals. In the fall, with the help of the animals, Henry harvested the grains and hay, and stored them in his granary.

This granary is not original to Schumacher Farm, but was donated to the park in 1999. It was moved to its present location that year, and restored to its present condition. Three rooms of the granary currently hold displays of various implements and artifacts that were commonly used on Wisconsin farms in the 1920s and 30s. Feed chutes are still visible inside the granary.