“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.

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.

HEY! COWS USED TO POOP HERE!

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 BB-

guns (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!