James Calvin Adams: 1846-1913
Family Pictures Barn Pictures
James Calvin Adams, mainly know as JC was born December 11, 1846 in Morgan County, Kentucky. He was orphaned at the age of ten and a Civil War prisoner at the age of sixteen. JC arrived in Montana in 1864, and begun working for the Diamon R Company in 1865. JC married Evangeline Strone in 1875 and had five children, James Edward, Richard E, Elemer Calvin, Thomas and Alma Zay. In 1886 a year after the barn was completed, Evangeline Adams died. Then in 1887 JC remarried to Laura B Morrow. They had four childred, James Calvin(Pete), Barabar(Nanny), Prudence(Kitty) and Wes.
In 1872, JC, a wagon boss for the Diamond R Company hauling freight from Fort Benton, Montana to Helena and Virginia City, settled in the Sun River Valley with the idea of supplying livestock to nearby Fort Shaw. His Business flourished and in 1883 he began construction of a magnificent sandstone block barn, measuring 40 x 140 feet with a full size loft. The west end was used for horses, the large center section for cattle during the winter, and the east end for wagons, buggies and a meat locker. The hardwood floor upstairs wasused for hay storage and as a social gathering place, dances and even a roller skating party.
Two Swedish stonecutters took two years to build the barn, the sandstone wall were quarried locally but the stone arches were shipped in by train. The stone barn is a wonderful example of Romanesque architecture and one of the last vestiges of the old freight and stage trail. It is currently on the National Register of Historic Places and the only barn of its kind west of the Mississippi.