Master Barn Builder Otto Beer
Otto Beer Sr. left a huge imprint scattered across two counties and other locales. He likely built more than 100 farm barns during a 31-year stretch. Some barns remain standing and a few are still used. But most have either been torn down or burned down. The legacy of a true craftsman will live on in memories but visible reminders have diminished.
Beer, born in 1893 in Ohio, came to Indiana in 1912 on a railroad car just shy of this 19th birthday. From 1914 to 1945, Otto Beer, himself a farmer for a while, was contracted to build farm barns.
