Leathers proud of what Maasdam Barns has become

FAIRFIELD — Mary Helen Leathers is proud to see what the Maasdam Barns have become since she relinquished ownership of them.

The Maasdam Barns are a historic set of barns on the southside of Fairfield that bear the name of the family that made them famous in the early 20th century for their champion purebred horses. Ownership of the farm eventually passed to Mary Helen Leathers and her husband, Ralph Leathers, in 1973. During the past 15 years, volunteers have restored the farmstead into a popular tourist destination complete with a visitors center.

“I’m very pleased with what the barns are today,” Leathers said. “The [Maasdam Barns Preservation Committee] has done a good job preserving the history of the barns. It’s something that attracts people to the county.”

Leathers said she’s happy to see the barns hosting special events, like the one planned for this weekend, “Babies at the Barns,” where families have a chance to pet a number of baby animals. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Maasdam Barns, located south of the Jefferson County Health Center on South Highway 1 in Fairfield.

Leathers, 95, was born and raised in Jefferson County on a farm between Libertyville and Batavia. She attended Des Moines Township No. 1 rural school, and graduated from Batavia High School. Her graduating class numbered just seven students. She remembers that one of them graduated early to enlist in the military because World War II was still going on. At the graduation ceremony, the six remaining students sat in chairs with a seventh chair left vacant except for an American flag draped over it.

Leathers’ husband, Ralph, was also from Jefferson County, and in fact grew up near the Maasdam Barns and attended Fairfield High School. The two were introduced by a mutual friend and married in August just a few months after Mary Helen graduated from high school. She said her husband always joked that he “never found a way to get even” with the friend who introduced them. In fact, Ralph and Mary Helen loved each other dearly and remained married for 54 years until Ralph’s death in 1997, on their anniversary.

The summer after they were married, Mary Helen took classes at Parsons College in Fairfield and later taught country school for four years before the couple decided to start a family. They had two daughters, Linda Wahl, who resides in Jefferson City, Mo., and Barbara McCleary, who died in 2009.

Mary Helen’s parents, Glenn and June Gorman, purchased the Maasdam farm in 1950 because they wanted to live closer to their daughter, who lived on a farm just south of there. Mary Helen said her parents always had dairy cows, and one of her memories of the farm was seeing all the cats that showed up hoping to get a sip of milk.

The original Maasdam home known as the “Big House” burned to the ground in 1933. Instead, the Gormans lived in a building that was once a company office, but they later built a home near the highway.

When the barns garnered interest for their history, the new house was considered too modern, so it was sold and a period-correct house was moved to the property to serve as a museum, which became the visitors center.

Before the Gormans purchased it, the Maasdam family had owned the property since 1910, when Jacob G. Maasdam expanded his Evergreen Ridge Stock Farm by purchasing the property from Ellsworth Turney. Maasdam and business partner Edward G. Wheeler sold purebred Scotch Shorthorn Cattle, and Maasdam also built what are known as the mare and stallion barns.

The farm would gain recognition in 1919 when Maasdam’s American-bred Percheron mare, Amoretta, is named World Champion at the International Livestock Show in Chicago. Maasdam and Wheeler formed a company called the Iowa Horse Importing Company, and in 1935 import a Belgian horse named “Louis d’Or,” reportedly the largest Belgian horse in the world.

Around 2001-2005, the Iowa Department of Transportation investigated the area as a possible site for a bypass for Highway 34, which was then still going through the city of Fairfield. A survey found that a portion of the farm was eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. That strip of farm was given to the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, and in 2005, the Maasdam Barns Preservation Committee was formed to oversee restoration and development of the farmstead.

Leathers later sold 40 acres of land north of the barns to the Jefferson County Health Center, which moved from its old location on Highland Street to its new building on South Highway 1 in 2009. Leathers also sold land south of the barns which is now home to the AmericInn hotel.