Originally constructed in the early 1900s, the Historic Morton Barns once housed the draft animals and livestock of the Morton farm and orchards.
They have been faithfully restored to their early twentieth century appearance and serve as the Foundation's youth curriculum laboratory and as home to its popular youth Discovery Camps. The barns are also popular for barbecues, square dances, and other informal events.
From the Historic Barn archives:
My father, Grove Porter, was one of the last farmers in Otoe County to go to tractor power. He loved horses and thought they should have a place on every farm. The teamsters took great pride in keeping their teams curried and brushed, and their harnesses saddle soaped, clean and pliable. Those proud hired hands also had to harness and unharness their teams daily, plus feed and water their powerful animals. Each wanted his team to look and be the best…
Read Arbor Farm Historian Joy Morton Porter's account of using Percheron draft horses to bring in the apple harvest.
