This article appeared in the 18 September 1930 La Porte City, Iowa, Progress Review newspaper.[1]
The owner of the barn, George W. Casbon (1874–1944), was the patriarch of today’s Iowa Casbons. The fire must have been a terrible blow. 1930 was near the beginning of the Great Depression. I’m told that the bank foreclosed on the loan George took out to rebuild the farm. This may be the reason he was forced to sell the farm in 1935.
[1] “Barn Burned,” The Progress Review, 18 Sep 1930, p. 1, col. 7; imaged at Community History Archive (http://laportecity.advantage-preservation.com/ : accessed 10 May 2020).
I think we tend to forget now how one major setback, such as a barn fire, could send a farm family into bankruptcy.
Sadly, it’s similar to what many are facing now with the coronavirus.
Yes, you’re right. Many families are now in desperate straits.