Barn painting rescued from Colorado antique shop

Painting finds appropriate home In Jewell County

 

August 18, 2022



About a month ago Neil Bouray received a call from a friend in Colorado who happened upon a painting in an antique shop that caught his eye and wondered if Neil would be interested in having it. The painting was of a rural setting that featured the octagonal barn that for years was at the Judy Ranch, headquarters, along Highway 36, between Mankato and Montrose. Neil told his friend he wanted the painting. After talking to his mother Kelly Bouray, both co-owners of Mankato Livestock Inc., they knew the painting would be perfect to be on display in the sale barn's office.

The story of the painting became even more interesting when this reporter went to the sale barn to do a story on the painting and found it had been painted by Louise (Moon) Allen. As a child she lived on the Judy Ranch. This reporter had interviewed her in 1999, when writing a feature story for the Jewell County Threshing Bee Issue, on barns in Jewell County. The Judy Barn happened to be one of the featured barns. Louise helped the reporter by sharing history of the barn.

Brad Judy, the third generation owner told of how the barn was built in 1915, designed by Jude Elliot, who managed the Judy Ranch at that time. The Judy family had been ranchers in the Burr Oak and Mankato area since the mid 1870s. The barn was in the Judy family for more than four generations. It had a silo in the middle of the barn, 25 feet in diameter and 30 feet tall. The silo was constructed using wood staves and reached to the dormer on top of the barn. Cottonwood from local trees was used to build the barn.

For Louise, the Judy Ranch and octagonal barn held special meaning, as in the 1920s and into the early 1930s her father, Ernest Moon, rented the Judy Ranch, east of Mankato, from then owner Alex Judy. Louise wrote and recorded many memories of living on the ranch. One of her memories, was shared with the Jewell County News reporter, was when Louise was 10 years old insisted on going with her father and other men on a cattle drive to move cattle to the Jewell County ranch from southern Kansas. Ernest and his wife decided to let Louise ride along, on her horse, Lad. She told of Lad being "snow white" with a white tail and mane.

There were other saddle horses, and a chuck wagon on the cattle drive. The drive took several days and a lot of riding to travel over miles. Some days were windy and it stirred up dust that called for a kerchief to be tied over the riders' faces. They slept under the stars and some nights in the rain. Finally they arrived at the ranch.

Louise remembers how well the barn served the livestock and the ranch workers. Every year, the cattle were rounded up. The cattle that were ready to sell were shipped on the Rock Island Railroad to Kansas City. Louise and her sister spent many hours playing in the barn. They would climb the ladder up into the silo and played hide and seek. She remembered cows being milked in the barn and all the fodder that was put into the silo that would later be fed to the cattle. She also told in another of her stories how Alex Judy would often take her and her sister on buggy rides around the ranch with his horse Ginger hitched to the buggy. There was an old rock house on the property where the hired man and his family lived. There was a horse barn, a chicken house, and a smoke house. The original house on the ranch was remodeled using native limestone and was where the Moon family lived.

Kelly Bouray (left) and Neil Bouray hold a painting of the round barn that once was located on the Judy Ranch east of Mankato. The painting will be displayed in the Mankato Sale Barn.

She tells of the hard times after the Moon family moved from the Judy Ranch to a farm her father purchased northeast of Mankato, as the Depression sit in. She would attend school in Mankato and graduated from Mankato High School. Louise eventually moved to Denver, Colo.

Through the years, the Judy Barn fell into disrepair and in more recent years, the barn was removed.

Many remember this barn that stood for more than 100 years and held many memories for those who traveled past Highway 36. It became a landmark. Kelly and Neil Bouray remember the Judy Barn and believe the painting belongs on the walls of their sale barn for others to see and enjoy. They were glad it was found and brought back, for "the Judy Barn is a part of the Jewell County history."

It is certain the artist, Louise, would be glad her painting was brought from Colorado to find a home in Jewell County, Kansas, where it will be recognized and appreciated.

 

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