“THE BARN” PLANTATION, FLORIDA 1971 “The Barn” started out as an experiment with the support of the long time mayor of Plantation, “Jim” Ward. It seems natural that a place called “The Experimental Station” would be used for an experiment in trust. The idea was, if as teenagers we could set the place up, we could run it on our own. It was a stretch to put such trust in young people back then as it is now. Lots of hours were spent here both having fun and working to change a historic “barn” into a meeting place for friends.
What started out as a battle to stop a teen curfew turned into a unique experience learning about both hard work and politics. The building on Peters Road had been a real barn then part of an agricultural experimental lab. The building long deserted and vandalized, had the Jaycees using the second floor for meetings and somehow we took over the ground floor.
HEY! COWS USED TO POOP HERE!
I think we had lost our minds thinking we could turn the building into anything someone would want to go to. Most of the inside had been trashed and the outside from the windows to the roofing needed lots of work.
The Jaycees were doing some work on their part of the building and we were able to get some help on things such as plumbing and electrical connections. In the picture above, guy of the left is Gareth Steele, not sure of the other person. Gareth is no longer with us but the picture (they were playing around) shows him in his element. He may have been built close to the ground but he never let that slow him down.
By the time we were done we had a place in the back for band to play and built risers for people to sit on. The roof was full of holes so we put a tarp we found over it. The tarp stuck to the sticky tar and no more leeks. The patio had some strange rubbery gunk all over the place but after a weekend of scraping all that was left was clearing away the dirt.
The area had acres of land between the building and any homes. This was great when it came to noise however we found there were a lot of younger local kids that liked to play in the woods and use the “Barn” for target practice with BBguns (and yes they could hit the broad side of a barn). As soon as we had windows they were broken. In the end we found those responsible and some of their parents very nicely donated furniture (and a pool table).
On weekends there was always a group of people working to clean the place up and maybe a few out having fun too. I think the guy on the motorcycle above is me because I’d go out looking for our little vandals every weekend but don’t know the stunt driver on the left. Because the grounds were used to test how plants would survive in the local soil, there was a wide variety of plants and trees behind the barn.
When you work with a zero dollar budget you do with what you can find. Pool tables and Ping-Pong in the rooms along with a rather eclectic collection of furniture. In the room with the pool table the celling was a mess and always left dust on the pool table. Thinking about it now it probably contained asbestos but we only wanted to protect the table so an old parachute added some protection and to us looked cool.
A candy and soda machine that had seen there better day fit right in to the decor and every now and then they even worked. The selections on the jukebox we controlled but for the life of me I can’t remember where we ended up putting it (we didn’t keep it in the hall). I think for a while we moved it out to the patio when were open and back in when we locked up the place.
The project was a great introduction to the political process because in the middle of things we had a new mayor that did not think the same as Mayor Ward. Some of us had also actively campaigned for “the other guy” during the election. Things went from trust to confrontation and downhill from there. To me it was an amazing project. Did we do everything right? Heck no – we were teenagers in the shadow of the 60’s. I do think we worked harder than ever to earn the trust Mayor Ward gave to us and did more with less than the city ever tried to do for teenagers. In the end Mayor Carter won (it was not even a contest). After the place sat locked up and vacant, again the target of vandals, he decided to use it for fire training thus turning everything we had worked to build to ash. Someone painted in large letters on the barn “TO OUR “FRIEND” JACK CARTER - THANKS.” Nobody took credit for the art work but to me it had to be Gareth – it was placed high above everything visible to everyone – in the “in your face” style – just like Gareth.
I wrote a story about the Barn’s closing in the school paper (below) and a second one about the burning. The second story was at first was banned from publication (too political) by the school’s principal. After the local newspaper picked up the story, and some talk about freedom of the press, we had to give equal time to the mayor and the editorial went to print. The mayor passed on saying anything and in flames the bit of Plantation History faded away. I still have both stories, the first is posted below however the second one is still waiting for input from Mayor Carter (just joking – it’s in storage back in the States . . . I think.) My first byline! Go to page two for the story. The rest of the paper is a blast to read also. I love the full page ad on the last page – groovy!