WESTMINSTER : Landmark Barn Finds New Home

The big red barn with its vintage cupola stood for 74 years at the corner of Bolsa Avenue and Bushard Street.

When it was moved last month, Henry Warne watched and was filled with childhood memories.

“I was about a year old when the barn was built in 1915. I spent many long afternoons playing around it and climbing all around. When I think of those days, I remember when it was filled high with hay to feed all the animals,” said Warne, who still lives in Westminster.

The land in Little Saigon where the barn, nearby pump house and the Warne family home once stood is the planned site of a shopping center.

But due to the efforts of the Westminster Historical Society, the three buildings were saved and moved to the Leaora L. Blakey Historical park at 8612 Westminster Blvd. The park also eventually will house a city museum.

But it is the red barn where Henry Warne once played that will be the park’s main attraction, said Councilwoman Joy Neugebauer, a member of the Historical Society’s Board of Directors.

Henry Warne’s father, John, built the barn and home when he moved to Westminster in the early 1900s and acquired 40 acres there. He and his wife, Sarah, raised their sons John Jr., Henry and Tom on the property as they made their living farming.

By his death in 1948, John Warne had amassed 300 acres surrounded by Bolsa Avenue, Bushard Street, McFadden Avenue and Brookhurst Street.

The original 40 acres is owned by the daughter of John Warne Jr., Mary Warne Hatchell. She donated the buildings to the Historical Society, something which has made her uncle Henry very happy.

“I’m glad to see the barn and other buildings preserved. I have a lot of memories from there and plan to go to see them often,” Henry Warne said.

The family home and pump house were moved to the park in August and are being restored.

“We’re locating them in the park in exactly the same positions as they were,” Neugebauer said. “When they are all completely restored, visually, they will look as if they were still sitting at Bushard and Bolsa.”

The barn was moved in the early morning of Nov. 14. But to make the 3-mile trek, the barn, which is 62 feet wide and 72 feet long, had to be sawed in half. It still awaits a foundation and pilings, but Neugebauer said work on those soon will be under way.

“It’s a beautiful barn. We want to preserve it so the children of today can see how people lived in the early 1900s,” she said.