Old Newspaper press found...

So while we have been salvaging barns, rail cars and old buildings this last month we have been coming across some amazing old relics.  This was used as siding on an old homestead building from the early 1900's.  

It is from a 1971 Watford City, North Dakota newspaper press.  They used this old tin for printing newspapers back in the day and the guy who owned the property got it for free from the owner and decided to use it as siding on the original homestead to protect it from weather.  He had the wording placed towards the building so at first we just thought it was some old tin.  But once we started taking it off we noticed this.  

Now we are taking this old tin off the building very carefully and going to salvage what we can.  It is very thin so it takes some time to take it off without ripping the tin.  

What are some design ideas you might do with this???

Original Homesteaders, Axel S. Johnson

We are digging into the history of each property we are reclaiming old buildings here at Old Barn Woods to tell a little bit about the original homesteaders and as much information as we can find.  We have found old photos and video from the first property which was homesteaded by Axel Johnson that we will be sorting and adding as well over time.  Below is a brief history about the original old homesteader for property number 1.  

Axel S. Johnson was born on Sept. 27, 1878, at Skara, VAstor-Gootland, Sweden.  He emigrated to the U.S. in 1899 and came to Buffalo, Minn.  Shortly thereafter he went to Galesburg, North Dakota, where he worked on farms.

In 1905, he and his brothers Otto and Algot came to Mckenzie County and each filed on a homestead in Tobacco Garden Township.  In 1911 he leased his homestead to Mr. Charles Skoglund and went to Canada and filed on a homestead in Alberta.  He made his home there for three years.

While he was in Canada, a tornado struck the buildings on his homestead in Tobacco Garden and destroyed the house, barn and granary.  Only the Sod House was undamaged.

In 1914 he moved back to the U.S. and was employed as a carpenter in Minneapolis for two years. 

On August 22, 1916, he married Clara M. Anderson who was born on March 28, 1890, at Ettebra, Blekinge: Sweden and came to the U.S. in 1909

In 1917 they moved to his original homestead in Garden Township where they lived until Mrs. Johnson died in July 1954.  Mr Johnson died in February of 1962.

They were blessed with four sons and three daughters. 

Welcome to Old Barn woods

Welcome to Old Barn Woods. We are in the middle of building our new website for Old Barn Woods. We should have the site up and running by early 2015. Off to the right side are some photos of some of the old buildings we are reclaiming. Old Barn Woods will be an online site showcasing many different authentic woods, hardware, antiques and much more. We will be telling the history about each, full quantities and much more.

On top of finishing up the new website, we are also about one week away from finishing up our new wood shop to start working on custom furniture and more.  If you have a special request from any of our woods for wholesale or would like custom designed pieces built please email us at oldbarnwoods@gmail.com.

All photos belong to Old Barn Woods and Axiom Creative Studio, for usage please contact before for using.