Historic barn collapses under weight of snow, ice

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The remains of a barn on land owned by the Connecticut Regional Water Authority at the corner of Cornwall Avenue and Tress Road in Prospect are seen on Jan. 22. Officials said the barn dated back to the 1800s. –LUKE MARSHALL

PROSPECT — A snow and ice storm last week was too much for a historic barn in town to bear.

The barn, which sat on land at the corner of Cornwall Avenue and Tress Road, collapsed under the weight of snow and ice from the Jan. 20 storm.

Mayor Robert Chatfield said the barn dated back to the late 1800s.

Chatfield, who lives on Cornwall Avenue and drove past the barn daily, said at one time the Volunteer Fire Department of Prospect parked its antique American Lafrance ladder truck in the barn. The department bought the truck from the Naugatuck Fire Department in the 1940s for $150, he said.

“It was an historic loss to the town,” Chatfield said of the barn.

The Connecticut Regional Water Authority owns the land the barn stood on. Dan Doyle, a spokesman for the authority, agreed the barn had historic value. However, he said, the barn had been in bad shape and the agency was trying to deconstruct it to preserve parts of the barn.

“The barn collapsing changes that. We are still going to go there and see what can be salvaged,” Doyle said.