GODFREY - A 100-year-old Godfrey barn is undergoing a major restoration, and a few local families are pleased to see it fixed.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
PJ Jun, of JUN Construction, bought the barn off Airport Road in 2000. Twenty-five years later, he decided to repair the barn, but not before connecting with the niece of the barn’s original owner and the neighbor whose father helped build the structure over a century ago.
“With my building background, if you see a building that needs help, you want to help it,” Jun said. “But the real story isn’t about me. It’s about the history of the barn and how it relates to these people who can really tell the story about the history of the barn.”
Gus Nolan was born in 1904 and built the barn in the 1920s. When he died, he left the property to his nieces and nephews, including 92-year-old Shirley Wiedman. In 2025, Wiedman reflected on the man who owned the property 100 years earlier.
“Gus, my uncle, owned all this, and my grandmother. They lent my mother and dad money, so we had to cut asparagus to pay it back,” she recalled. “We’d get up every morning at 4 o’clock, come out here and cut asparagus and get home enough to get cleaned up and be at school at 8.”
At the time, Godfrey was considered the “asparagus capital of the United States,” Wiedman said. Nolan grew asparagus. He was a colorful person with “a terrible temper,” and he kept the family on their toes.
“I remember all those days so well,” Wiedman said. “I remember Thanksgiving at our house, we were sitting there as everybody ate. There was one roll sitting in the basket on the table. Everyone was eyeing it. Uncle Gus grabbed his fork and grabbed it. You always knew where you stood with him. I used to come out and get his wash and ironing for him. And Gus always paid you back. One day I saw a pickup truck down the road. I’ve got two acres on Godfrey Road where I live. And I went down, and there was Uncle Gus, shoveling manure on my garden.”
Bob Oulson, 86, grew up on the neighboring property in Godfrey. Oulson’s father helped Nolan build the barn in the 1920s. As a child, Oulson often helped Nolan around the farm. Though Nolan grew “cantankerous” as he got older, Oulson remembers him as a strong, kind character who “worked every day except Sunday.”
“Old Gus Nolan, when he was young, he was a great guy, easy to get along with,” Oulson said. “We helped him put up hay and farmed a little bit. He’d always make sure we’d come and have ice cream. He was a great guy.”
While his family and neighbors knew Nolan personally, his reputation preceded him throughout Madison County. Nolan’s barn became a landmark because of the signs he hand-painted and hung so they could be seen from Airport Road. These signs often called out the Madison County tax assessor by name, condemning him for Nolan’s high taxes.
“Gus was a fighter,” Wiedman laughed.
Nolan died in 1993, but his legacy lives on. Wiedman remembers attorney Bob Ryan advising her and her siblings to take the highest bid on the land when it came time to sell it. She was “thrilled” when Jun made the purchase, and pleasantly surprised when, in 2025, he announced he was going to restore the barn.
Over the past few months, Jun has replaced the barn’s wood siding and fixed a few structural issues, including pouring new concrete. Touched by Nolan’s story and determined to preserve the history, he used a nail to carve words in the concrete when it was freshly poured, including information about Nolan and Jun’s own family tree.
The reaction to the barn’s refresh has been “surprising,” Jun added. Oulson shared his gratitude that Jun decided to fix it instead of tearing it down. Wiedman feels that Jun is “like a son,” and she can’t wait to see the finished restoration.
“I can’t tell you how many people who I’ve never met before will stop and take a look at what we’re doing and actually thank me for restoring the barn instead of taking it down,” Jun said. “As a builder, I’ve been in construction my entire life. You pretty much have the visual picture of what a project is going to look like even before you start. And this has met every positive expectation that I had.”
As Jun finalizes the project, he hopes the barn can live on for another 100 years.
