FINCHFORD, Iowa (AP) – A family in the small northeast Iowa community of Finchford watched sadly as an excavator brought their century-old barn crashing down. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the barn was built in the early 1900s to house a man’s race horses. It included an oversized opening with sliding doors to allow wagons inside and gabled dormers with windows to let light and air into the loft.

Wilbur Anderson’s grandfather bought the property in 1911 and it had been owned by the family ever since. He says, “That used to be a classy barn.”  After so many years, repairing the barn would have been too expensive. After family members took a last walk through it Thursday, it took only minutes for an excavator to bring it tumbling down.