Hometown Hero

Fairfield resident Tony Webb joined the Maasdam Barns Preservation Committee in 2009 and in short order became its chairman.

The preservation committee began in 2005 and sought to restore a series of historic barns on the south side of Fairfield, near the Jefferson County Health Center, where Webb works as the purchasing manager. One day in 2009, Webb recognized his colleague Dr. William Baumann painting one of the barns, and the two struck up a conversation about the work being done to refurbish the barns. Webb and other employees at the health center put together a group of volunteers to finish scraping and painting.

Webb was invited to attend the committee's next board meeting.

Dick Reed, who was then vice chairman, asked Webb if he'd be interested in becoming the board's next chairman.

'I was really interested in what they were doing, so I said yes,” Webb said, who has been the board's chairman since 2010.

The barns host events each year that give the board an opportunity to showcase historically significant items such as Louden Machinery Company inventions such as the Louden hay trolley. In 2011, the Museum and Visitor Center opened with displays, photos and exhibits dedicated to the barn complex.

Webb said the barns provide a window into the 'nuts and bolts of what this country was, and how it made us what we are today.” He said the board owes a debt of gratitude to the Greater Jefferson County Foundation for the grants it has awarded the board over the years.

In addition to his work with Maasdam Barns, Webb is active at St. Mary Catholic Church in Fairfield. He joined the church officially about 20 years ago and has been involved in the Knights of Columbus, and the church's finance council.

'I enjoy working with fellow volunteers. They're people who want to get work done, and they're not interested in getting credit,” Webb said. 'That's the spirit we have at the barns, at the church and at the hospital.”

– By Andy Hallman