Historic Barns in Ottawa County Exhibit

A collection of Dr. Robert Kroeger’s paintings of Historic Barns in Ottawa County will be on display at the Train Station from Friday, May-24-Sunday, June 30. The exhibit will be open to the public from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Thursdays, May 30, June 6, 13 and 27.

Kroeger was the Ottawa County Historical Society’s featured speaker in June 2023 at Port Clinton’s The Arts Garage. While visiting, he toured the county’s historic barns and completed 14 paintings. These paintings will be part of the Ottawa County Historical Society’s online Bidding Owl Auction to benefit their scholarship fund.

Kroeger lives in Cincinnati and travels in search of historic barns and their stories in many states, but mostly in Ohio. Each year, he completes hundreds of oil paintings of old barns and documents their stories in essays in an effort to preserve their histories – since so many barns are vanishing.

His books and nearly all his paintings go into fundraisers for historical societies in Ohio and Indiana. His book, Historic Barns of Ohio, features an old barn and its story in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. His newest book, Round Barns of America, includes 75 round barns in 32 states, including 11 in Ohio.

Kroeger is currently working on a project involving stone barns in more than 40 states.