Historical Notes:

One of the last surviving round barns in Washington state, the Laughlin Round Barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. A 75-mile-per-hour wind toppled the barn in December, 1995 and it has since been restored. Carpenters copied the original plan and used some of the original wood. The original barn was a wooden pole barn containing a large upper level loft and a conical roof. The outer wall measured approximately 63 feet in diameter. The larger members of the framing system were hand hewn, split, or planed. The ground floor included a centrally placed wagon drive, a livestock alley, a granary, and a larger storage room. A lean-to was later attached to the east wall and used as a pig pen.

Samuel Davidson Laughlin (1843-1910) built the round barn after admiring similar barns in Oregon. Laughlin was a native of Linn, Osage County, Missouri. He enlisted Oct. 15, 1861 in St. Louis, Mo., and served as a color bearer for the 3rd Missouri Regiment Volunteer Infantry (Union). He stood 6'2", touring over the troops. He was mustered out of Company G on Nov. 3, 1864 in Atlanta, after surviving some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including the Battle and Siege of Vickburg, Battle of Chattanooga, and the Battle and Siege of Atlanta.

In 1865 he married neighbor Eliza Jane Morrow (also born in Linn, Mo.), and built a home on his father's land in Osage County, Missouri. In 1873, they and their then four children left Missouri and settled in Olequa, Washington territory. The Laughlins purchased the 80-acre farm on August 15, 1877 for $550, built a Victorian home, and moved onto the land on December 21, 1881. The couple had 10 children, all born between 1866 and 1887. Nine survived childhood. During his life, Laughlin worked as a farmer, postmaster, schoolteacher, logger, and railroad section foreman. He was also an accomplished carpenter, having built two homes and the round barn. Ironically, after surviving some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Laughlin died as a result of a splinter lodged in his thumb while he was carrying firewood into the family home. He died of blood poisoning on Feb. 25, 1910 at age 66. The local newspaper praised him as being "universally loved, honored and respected by all who came within the radius of his genial, kindly nature." Laughlin, his wife Eliza Jane (1843-1913), and a son (Robert Rankin Laughlin (1882-1884), are buried on a knoll overlooking his beloved barn. His headstone says "Gone, but not forgotten."

Historical information provided by Kathy Garvey (Great-granddaughter of Samuel Laughlin).