Coloradans pony up for midwesterner's restored barns.

• Author: Schwab, Robert

Nick Meagher III, whose father started Arapahoe Bank & Trust in the Denver Tech Center years ago, now runs Wild West shows, ala the fabled western showman Buffalo Bill Cody.

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Meagher (pronounced "mar") also owns the T-Bone Ranch in Antonito, a historic Southern Colorado cattle operation that doubles as a guest ranch and sometimes venue for Nick's shows. Meagher is building a barn on the property, but when its sides get raised, you won't be able to actually call the barn new.

The 160-year-old wooden structure that will be moved to a foundation now under construction will be imported from Rawson, Ohio, next year.

For Ken Andre, who will tear down the barn in Ohio, restore its timbers, move it and rebuild it for Meagher in Antonito, the show barn will the fifth restored structure his Indiana company has installed in Colorado.

Andre's Early American Barns Inc., a one-man shop based outside Chicago, is gaining a reputation among Coloradans who can afford his work, primarily by virtue of the beauty and quality of the restored structures he rebuilds.

Jim Fitzgerald, who owns Coldwater Media, a video production company in Palmer Lake, learned about Andre when he saw a news story about him tearing down a barn in Eastern Colorado during the '90s. Fitzgerald put the clip away but called Andre several years later when Fitzgerald wanted to build what he calls The Office Barn in Palmer Lake, and then again when he wanted to build a traditional barn on property where he lives nearby.

The Office Barn attracted two other Colorado customers to Andre's company.

Bob and Suzanne Fanch had him install a restored barn as an activity center at the Devil's Thumb Ranch Resort...