OGLESBY – The old Illinois Valley Community College dairy barn just south of the south entrance to campus will be demolished beginning early Monday morning.
S & K Excavating & Trucking of Yorkville will begin taking down the structure with their heavy equipment sometime after 6:30 a.m. Weather permitting, all demolition, removal of the concrete foundation and backfill is expected to be completed by Friday, Dec. 7.
S & K will be paid $50,750 for demolition and removal of all materials. The college will receive nearly $165,000 in state capital funding for the project which will include replacing the barn with an agriculture program equipment storage building.
. To receive state funding, the college was required to provide matching funds which can now be used for the demolition. The college architect will design the structure in consultation with the board’s facilities committee.
IVCC President Jerry Corcoran, who credited State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) for supporting the capital project, said the barn was deteriorating and no longer of any use to the college.
“Our plan is to replace the barn with a modern structure capable of housing farm equipment and implements that are crucial to the continuing growth of our first-class ag program,” he said.
The barn’s doors were removed this week by IVCC facilities workers for potential decorative use in the new building.
The barn, believed to have been constructed in the 1940s, was long the centerpiece of the Segaert Farm that dates back to 1905. The college district purchased the property in 1967 and opened its permanent campus on the site in 1972.
