The barn itself is significant as well. At 9,600 square feet and standing nearly 40 feet high, the Mankin Barn is purportedly the largest intact historic horse barn in the United States. It can house 40 Percheron workhorses and the loft can support 150 tons of hay. The barn also once served as a community center, hosting basketball games and dances. The barn features two stories, massive sliding doors on the east and west ends, and a distinctive “4J” brand in bright red on the front. It sits on a stacked stone foundation that has been reinforced in areas with concrete at a later date.
This building is not on the National Register for Historic Places, but the building is both historically and architecturally significant. The Keeline brothers who had the barn built were important contributors to the early development of ranching culture in Wyoming, important enough to have a town named for them. The building is one of the largest historic horse barns in America and remarkably still serves the same purpose as it did when it was built in 1908. The building is representative of longevity, resilience, and community.
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