The Barn Theatre, originally constructed in 1943 by Robert M. Cook as a dairy barn, became the home of Michigan's oldest resident summer stock theatre, a type of company in which a group of actors performs consecutive productions of different shows. Founded in 1946 as The Village Players, the company first used the Community Hall in Richland, began renting the barn in 1949, and purchased it in 1954. It was incorporated as The Barn Theatre, Inc. on July 12, 1949, became an Equity theatre in 1951, and has performed over 300 plays and musicals for more than one million patrons.