Donna Jackson provided this photo of the barn on her property that was destroyed Monday evening.

By Tim Ashley
InkFreeNews

MILFORD — A nearly 100-year-old barn west of Milford was completely destroyed by fire Monday evening, April 26.

Milford Fire Department received a call shortly after 11 p.m. regarding a barn fire at 4009 W. 1250N in Jefferson Township on property belonging to Stuart and Donna Jackson. Virgil Sharp, Milford fire chief, said the fire was fully involved by the time firefighters arrived at the scene.

“We did an exterior attack only for protection,” he said.

He said the cause is still under investigation and the barn is considered a total loss with nothing really salvageable. “It did not affect any other structures around it,” Sharp said and there were no injuries.

Stuart and his wife, Donna, were home at the time and were notified by phone the barn was on fire by Stuart’s sister who lives to the west of the Jacksons.

Milford received total assists from both the Leesburg and Nappanee fire departments. Syracuse and New Paris fire departments provided tankers.

Local farmer Loren Shaum assisted at the scene by using a telehandler machine to grab metal and pick it up. He also removed a pine tree that had caught on fire.

Leroy Jackson, Stuart’s grandfather, had the barn built in 1928. Leroy was a horse trader and there were pens in the barn so potential buyers could look at the horses.

Well-known barn builder Otto Beer Sr. with the help of an Amish crew finished the task of building the barn.

Not much remains of the barn on Stuart Jackson’s property west of Milford that burned down late Monday evening. InkFreeNews photo by Tim Ashley.