Around 1981, this barn in the Rural Municipality of Lorne was featured in a Manitoba Co-operator series on rural buildings. The original caption for the photograph is given below.
This sturdy 88-foot by 30-foot specimen stands in excellent condition, almost as straight and true as when it was constructed in 1927 for Jean Comte of the Notre Dame de Lourdes area. Sitting on two-foot thick limestone walls, the barn is now used by son Raymond mainly for grain storage. It is one of many similar barns in the area that were constructed in the mid-1920s by a team of masons from France using local limestone and fir framing from British Columbia. In addition to the enormous upper feed storage areas, the barn originally had stalls on the lower level for 26 horses, 14 cows, and a hen area. One of the unusual features of this particular building is the entry to the hay loft. Instead of hinged double doors that open outward or upward, as was the design of most Manitoba barns at the time, the Compte barn had a vertical track and pulley system. The building is located alongside Highway 244, about three miles south of Notre Dame de Lourdes, the Manitoba village named after a town in Frances called Lourdes. The barn uses several design features found in barns from other centuries and continents including: ventilation openings under the roof peaks, circular openings for upper illumination, and a large window above the main door entrance.
As of June 2020, the building was still standing at its original location.
Comte Barn (circa 1981)
Source: Bob Hainstock
Comte Barn (November 2013)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Aerial view of Comte Barn (June 2020)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.51588, W98.54675
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Co-operator Rural Buildings Series
This page was prepared by Bob Hainstock, Ed Ledohowski, and Gordon Goldsborough.
We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 9 June 2021
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