The Foco Barn
A Historical Overview
The barn in the photo was constructed in two parts. Grandpa Foco,
constructed the lower part with help from some of his brothers, to serve
as a chicken house or coupe for egg production. Construction took place
in the late 30's. I am not exactly sure of the date but it was before WW
2, which started after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At one time
they had over 400 laying hens and sold eggs to customers throughout the
area as well as a regular route of door to door customers in an around
Bay City. I can remember them loading crates of eggs in the back of our
1936 Chevrolet Sedan. They would remove the back seat of the car to make
more room for the eggs. They did this for several years until the price
of eggs dropped so low they couldn't make a living at it anymore and
decided to go out of the egg business.. I remember them selling some of
the chickens and slaughtering the remainder. The chickens were cleaned
and Grandma cut them up in to pieces and canned them, since we didn't
have any refrigeration (no refrigerator) at that time. After, the egg
business, they decided to go into the dairy business. The chicken coupe
was remodeled inside to house milking cows. A manure trench was added in
the floor and stanchions (where the cows head went in and locked in
place) were installed to keep the cows in place. At one time, I can
remember milking as many as 16 cows by hand. A lot of teats to pull and
manure to pitch. The milk was sold to Turmell's cheese plant on Eight
Mile and Newberg Roads. This is how we made our living.
The higher part of the Barn was added some time in the late 40's or
early 50's. The lumber for this addition was from a barn that Grandpa
Lynch had at his place. Grandpa Foco tore down that barn and rebuilt it
as an attachment to the lower part.
And as they say "The rest is history".
As written by Leo Foco Jr.