James A. Garfield built this barn in 1877 after purchasing the farm in 1876, hoping for a place where his boys could learn to work and where he could exercise, touch the earth, and draw strength from it. For the next five years, when at home in Ohio from Washington, D.C., Congressman Garfield grew crops, bred animals, and planted orchards with his sons on the farm. Although the horse barn had originally stood near Mentor Avenue as part of a larger barn complex during Garfield's time, it was later relocated here. After Garfield's death, his widow Lucretia had the carriage house built in 1893 to shelter the farm's horses.
