(nature sounds) [Angela Rheingans] You drive by our beautiful park and you see this large building with a thatch roof.

That's not something typical that you see in Midwest Iowa.

It's very typical in Germany.

That is the first unique feature that makes people stop, just pull over, walk into the chamber office and say, what is your building?

[Kohlsdorf] DeWitt's German House Barn was originally built in 1727.

280 years later in 2007, the barn was slated to be torn down.

That's when a German immigrant living in DeWitt had an idea.

Why not bring the historic structure to Iowa instead?

♪♪ [Angela Rheingans] About 70,000 volunteer hours later and $60,000 in grants and donations, we have that building tore down there, put in a shipping container and brought to DeWitt, reconstructed here in Lincoln Park.

The intent had been to reconstruct the house barn completely using all the original materials.

But, we kind of discovered that the brick was really starting to disintegrate.

So, the building has the same footprint that it did originally.

The doors are in the same spot.

[Kohlsdorf] The building is now home to the DeWitt Chamber and Development Company and also serves as a museum chronicling the barn's journey to Iowa.

Inside, visitors can explore artifacts, tools and household items all shipped to DeWitt alongside the barn itself.

[Angela Rheingans] When people come in, they are pleasantly surprised at just kind of the quaintness of it.

We really wanted to just embrace that we're not a curated museum, but what we are is just really wanting to hold onto the heritage that this piece had in Germany and kind of give a nod to the German heritage of our DeWitt community as well.

When the community first considered bringing the house barn to DeWitt, there was a lot of conversation about where would we put it?

Ultimately, we decided to put it in Lincoln Park, which is right here on the Lincoln Highway.

It's the center of town.

Since that time, our Lincoln Park has evolved to really become even more of a centerpiece for our community.

Not only is it something that you drive by and comment and love and kind of feel in a sense of place because it's here in DeWitt, it serves both function and beauty but also a place of pride.

♪♪