# What is this weird building about (10x10 building, ~4 feet off the ground, in the middle of nowhere) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281 "2026-05-21T14:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/1 "2026-05-21T14:11:30Z")
I drive past this weird building a few times per year when life takes me dow that stretch of road. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sazGadyWlZKL8bhwTekF49w%212m2%211d37.7566571%212d-90.7705501%213f82.52%214f8.014%215f0.36 Any idea what this is about? For context, it’s down the road from Caledonia, Missouri, a nothingburger town in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. It’s near or adjacent to a farm supply company that may or may not be in business (times are hard in Iron County). Why would anyone build an approximately 10’x10’ building, and put it about 4 feet above the ground? At a guess I’d say it has to do with storing things that mustn’t get wet, but there are ways to ensure that without building the building so high. Any guesses? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/2 "2026-05-21T14:17:28Z")
Have you ever heard of an hórreo? > **[Hórreo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B3rreo)** > > An hórreo (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Galician: \[ˈo.re.ʊ\]) is a traditional agricultural building found throughout the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, designed to store and preserve food, especially grain, away from moisture and animals, keeping it in optimal condition. Built in stone, wood, or bricks, it is raised from th... Hórreos look much nicer, the old traditional ones may even be protected, but the idea is the same. Raise the building, store things inside that won’t get wet when flooded and animals will have it hard to get there. No idea whether that’s it, but the elements are there. The junk yard on the back looks agricutural too. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/3 "2026-05-21T14:42:44Z")
An hórreo was my first thought, though I’d expect more of a rat barrier on the posts if so. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/4 "2026-05-21T14:43:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Hórreos look much nicer That they do. I’m curious as to why one would build a similar structure in the modern era. Surely modern building techniques are sufficient to keep out moisture and vermin, no? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/5 "2026-05-21T15:23:05Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Surely modern building techniques are sufficient to keep out moisture and vermin, no? I suspect not, at least not as affordably. Building methodologies are mostly about money. A concrete floor might seem more modern than a raised wooden floor, but the damed things can still get damp, and if you need to keep rain out, you are looking at all around water proof walls and a water proof entrance, plus the need to manage the bonding of walls to floor. And you need it to stay that way without constant oversight. Your average mouse can get in via a hole smaller than your thumb, and rats will eat though nearly anything short of concrete or steel. Critters will get in via the most absurd routes. Stopping the wretched things getting even a foothold on your structure is a win. A modern take on a raised building is almost certainly another raised building. You might swap in steel for wood, or maybe concrete piers, but you probably won’t be saving any money. At least not up-front. Certainly where I am, if asked to provide a storage building like this, I would be reaching for a steel construction on steel piers on concrete footings. (We do a good line in termites, so whilst wood is viable, it needs serious chemical warfare to survive long.) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/6 "2026-05-21T15:23:11Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Surely modern building techniques are sufficient to keep out moisture and vermin, no? No, I don’t believe so. And hórreos are not enough either, but every little bit helps. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/7 "2026-05-21T15:26:43Z")
I would guess that there used to be something else (scales for incoming/outgoing vehicles, inspection station, loading/unloading equipment) adjacent to that structure for which that was the office or interior workstation. Our local dump/recycling center has a similar structure next to the scales that all vehicles have to cross both coming and going to determine what fees (if any) need to be charged. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/8 "2026-05-21T15:40:05Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > And hórreos are not enough either, but every little bit helps. Those concrete piers don’t look rat proof to me. But like you say, every bit helps. Reminds me, once I was backpacking in the desert southwest and stumbled across an abandoned cowboy shack. Inside was a table that someone had slid inverted tin cans (with holes in the bottom) over the legs to act as rat gaskets. The table top was covered in rat pellets. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/9 "2026-05-22T08:41:23Z")
In the UK, barns were raised on mushroom shaped things called saddle stones to keep vermin out.. > **[Staddle stones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staddle_stones)** > > Staddle stones, steddle stones,\[a\] or straddle stones were originally used as supporting bases for granaries. The staddle stones lifted the granaries above the ground, thereby protecting the stored grain from vermin and water seepage. They were also used on other food and animal feed stores such as hayricks and game larders. > In Middle English staddle, or stadle, is stathel, from Old English stathol, a foundation, support or trunk of a tree. Staddle stones can be mainly found in Great Britain, No... ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/10 "2026-05-22T09:46:46Z")
Looks like a very old corn crib to me: [Corn crib](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_crib) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/11 "2026-05-22T12:55:16Z")
Where I lived in MO lots of farmland is prone to periodic flooding. Any building that wasn’t raised, either on a mound or short stilts, was going to be inundated every few years. Maybe that building was an ordinary farm shed when built. And all the other buildings around it have fallen down or been knocked down since? If newer buildings nearby are built on ground level, which seems to be the case, perhaps flood control there has been improved since whenever the old building was built. Point being what’s unique about that building is its history and survival, not its function. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/12 "2026-05-22T12:58:20Z")
I’d be surprised if it was, indeed, a corn crib. One of the key features of a corn crib is the ample ventilation, which this structure seems to lack. The walls of this structure look to be air tight, and there are glass-paned windows on at least two sides (as evidenced by being able to see sky on the other side of the building through the windows on the right side). ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/13 "2026-05-22T18:07:12Z")
This all depends on the land its built on right , and total cost. You might think, just put a waterproof membrane down and put concrete on that. But cheap concrete floors break,especially since its on clay, and if the ground freezes. or anyway, this way they can clear snow away from the floor if the snow is building up. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/14 "2026-05-22T21:11:13Z")
> [@Stana\_Claus](#): > > I would guess that there used to be something else (scales for incoming/outgoing vehicles, inspection station, loading/unloading equipment) adjacent to that structure for which that was the office or interior workstation. Bingo! Just look at the street view from 2009 before the area was overgrown with grass. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211s5KNo758iG_s33FNEIdvwng%212m2%211d37.7566965%212d-90.7705072%213f70.48%214f8.84%215f0.75 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/15 "2026-05-22T22:22:01Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > In the UK, barns were raised on mushroom shaped things called saddle stones > to keep vermin out.. Nitpick: “staddle” not “saddle”. The word “staddle” has a variety of meanings, many obsolete, and most having to do with something supporting something else. Interestingly, one of the meanings describes the OP’s building quite well: “_A building of timber standing on legs or steddles, to raise it out of the mud_” (OED). The name of the village of Staddle in _The Lord of the Rings_ is derived from this word. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/16 "2026-05-23T12:58:26Z")
My first thought was “chicken house”, but really lots of building used to be raised up a couple of feet off the dirt. That one only has 4 poles, it might just be there was no point in lopping a couple of feet off the bottom. [Historic 14 stand shearing shed, abandoned rare and Amazing old farm shed in outback Australia - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxb-B98AEvo&t=25s) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/17 "2026-05-23T14:09:13Z")
Flood proofing something is the only logical answer. I feel like it’s a guard shack. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-building-about-10x10-building-4-feet-off-the-ground-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/1030281/18 "2026-05-23T14:16:17Z")
I think it is elevated so the person inside is face to face with the truck drivers.