CLINTON - A German museum director this week was able to re-establish some family ties while bringing a piece of his homeland to America.

Carl Johannsen, who is guiding the process of moving a hausbarn from northern Germany to the western Iowa town of Manning, made a stop in Clinton earlier this week to visit Sheryl Henry, his cousin's daughter.

August 2000

Carl Johannsen

The visit took place during the fourth trip Johannsen has made to the United States while overseeing the landmark rebuilding of a 330-year-old structure that used to house both families and animals.

Accompanying Johannsen on the visit was German farmer Claus Hachmann, who donated the building to the Manning Heritage Foundation.

August 2000

Claus & Paula Hachmann

The men's current trip to the United States began with a stop in Manning to check up on the building process. They also were slated to go to DeWitt to obtain windows for the structure, go on a sight-seeing tour of Des Moines and then to Manning to have one more look at the project.

Sandwiched in between those activities was a visit to the Henrys to talk about a project that is near to their hearts.

"It's pleasure for us to do it," Johannsen said of the work that paved the way for the visit. "It is good information about the German people so they will know how we lived."

The process of bringing the hausbarn to the Iowa town known for its German history had its first glimmer in 1988. It was then that Johannsen, director of the Schleswig-Holstein Open-Air Museum near Kiel, Germany, was contacted by Manning city officials as they searched for such a structure to be part of proposed historical farm.

While the heritage foundation was searching, Hachmann was on the other side of the ocean trying to decide what to do with the hausbarn, which had been in his family since his ancestors bought the property in 1832.

The hausbarn, which had been inhabited by his ancestors until 1951, was being rented out to a family when Hachmann decided it was time to get rid of the deteriorating barn.

"The roof was falling and it was not in good condition," he said, adding that repair costs would have topped $500,000 and rent money would not have been able to cover the costs.

Although he decided it was time to free himself of the barn, Hachmann had to find a future for the building. One option included offering the property to the local government, which on a 7 to 6 vote decided it did not want to take on the property.

It was a videotape of the hausbarn made by two of Hachmann's American friends (Chuck and Esther Henderson --- Esther is Ruth Crandall's sister) that in 1991 introduced the structure to Manning city officials.

But while Hachmann knew where he wanted the building to go, he still had a fight in the form of a six-year court battle between himself and renters who did not want to move out. Hachmann won that fight and by the spring of 1996, Hachmann and Manning officials signed an agreement, an action that happened after German authorities OK'd the impending move.

By August of that year, a four-week tearing down process began, with the pieces numbered and shipped in containers to Manning. A groundbreaking ceremony took place two years ago, and in July of this year, German carpenters arrived in town to reassemble the barn

While most of the building's exterior is complete, interior work is now underway. Roofers also are working on putting the thatched roof in place. Johannsen said the entire project is on target to be finished by September 2000.

Both men said they are thrilled to be bringing a piece of Germany to a town that is known for its German heritage.

"It's a Thanksgiving gift to America," Hachmann added. "It's a bridge between the two countries."