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The Making of the Barn Quilt Capital 

Shawano County is the reigning Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin thanks largely to the efforts of Jim Leuenberger and his wife, Irene. Both Jim and Irene grew up on small farms in Iowa, where barn quilts are also plentiful, before relocating to Shawano in 1975 for work.

In June 2010, Jim decided Shawano County should start its own barn quilt project and he would lead the charge. 

“Shawano is a beautiful county. After having seen barn quilts in Iowa and southern Wisconsin, I thought Shawano County would be a great place to get [a barn quilt] project going because there are lots of historic barns,” Jim Leuenberger says. “Even though they don’t have cows in them anymore, they have been kept up really well.” 

The goals of the project were to encourage barn owners to preserve the historic structures as well as increase tourism beyond the area’s biggest draw, Shawano Lake. Leuenberger says both goals have been achieved. Many owners have restored their barns with new roofs and necessary updates as a result of the project. “The increase in tourism has been phenomenal,” Leuenberger says. “We’ve had numerous bus tours from all over the Midwest specifically to see the barn quilts and we have several more scheduled this year.”

The quilts are strategically scattered throughout Shawano County in hopes of attracting visitors to the quiet, rural settings that offer so much natural beauty. 

“We have more barn quilts in our county than any other county in Wisconsin,” Leuenberger says. “When I first started, I had no idea how many we’d have. I was hoping we’d have 25.”

That original estimate has been far exceeded. The Leuenbergers have created all but 15 of the whopping 340 barn quilts in Shawano County. Those the Leuenbergers haven’t personally made were created by local 4-H clubs. 

The 8-by-8-foot quilts are made by paining a quilt pattern on plywood sheets. All the painting is done in the basement of the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center using a book of 5,500 quilt patterns as inspiration. From working with the barn owner to select a pattern to painting and dry time, it takes roughly a month to create one barn quilt. Leuenberger says they have worked on as many as five quilts at a time. When a quilt is completed, Raddant Electric Service installs it at its new location. 

Leuenberger created a full-color book, “The Barn Quilts of Shawano County, Wisconsin,” that features each of the quilt’s history and map of locations, with profits going back to the barn quilt project. Books are for sale at the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce and at each barn quilt tour. A free tour map is also available at the chamber office. 

“What I like about Shawano is there are a lot of things going on and things to see,” Leuenberger says. “Just driving around the countryside, around Shawano Lake or renting a boat for the day. I’m biased, but looking at the quilts is just fun.”