Dale Lehmer '62
Outstanding Achievement in a Chosen Profession
Dale Lehmer grew up on Main St. in Shiremanstown, PA. It was there he met Jim Skillen who would become a life-long friend. In fact, he was the first friend Jim gained after moving to Shiremanstown. Both Dale and Jim went through Mechanicsburg Junior High and High School together and then attended Wheaton College together. It was Jim who nominated Dale for the Mechanicsburg Hall of Fame.
At Wheaton Dale majored in Psychology and went on to get an MSW(Masters in Social Work) at Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana in the field of juvenile corrections. After his Graduate school he worked in the field of juvenile delinquency for 10 years. He burned out and then began an all-purpose business in moving and storage, home repairs, taking down old buildings, and anything people needed help doing. In the late 70's a bank in Dillsburg contacted him and paid him $500.00 to take a barn down for them to put in a parking lot. He got to keep and resell the lumber and it was when many people starting putting old barnwood in their basements. He took the barn down with one of the young men he counseled from Harrisburg that he had taken into his home. That was the start. That led him to an interest in old barns scattered across Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. He learned that people wanted the old barns torn down to get the beautiful antique woods to use for other projects, or they wanted the barns restored and in many cases moved to another spot. Pretty soon Dale was becoming an expert in restoring, moving, and constructing barns for many purposes—new homes, entertainment centers, storage, and much more.
As early as 2003, Dale was already considered by some to be one of the leading people in his profession, and recognized as one of the founding fathers of what was becoming a new and exciting construction trend (see the blurb on his website www.vintagewoods.com from American profile.com, 8/24/2003). His reputation caught the attention of Oscar award winning actor, Robert de Niro, who asked Dale to come and restore a barn or two on his extensive property in upstate New York. The work grew, and Dale stayed to work for de Niro for a decade. There were many barns to restore, move, and enhance. Dale was also building a dedicated team of close-knit, expert colleagues. His motto on their T-shirts was “Barn Again”.
Today, Dale is probably one of just a handful of people doing this kind of barn saving work and has decades of experience working with barns and antique lumbers. He has taken on projects in almost every part of the country and in other countries as well. Also, since he has purchased and disassembled hundreds of old barns, his three-plus storage facilities have grown to hold diverse types of barns (each piece of each barn numbered) and vintage lumbers. This allows him to advertise many types of barns for customers looking for a particular type to be installed and enhanced on their properties. The growth of the restoring-old-hardwood-barns movement owes a great deal to Dale Lehmer, including the inspiration of others who have followed in his footsteps. Dale’s son, Kelly, also works with him and has for over 30 years and is an excellent craftsman in his own right and does much of the finished work like stair systems and catwalk and balconies and assorted cabinetry with antique woods.
Dale lives in Sebastian, Florida in the winter and Rossie, NY in the summer with his wife Sophie Lehmer, who does architectural drawings of their barn homes, and his best friend, Rusty (pictured in the bike basket above) and 4 cats. They love to go for bike rides down by the Sebastian River and look for alligators. Dale loves his work, and hopes to keep working as long as his health allows. So far so good.
At Wheaton Dale majored in Psychology and went on to get an MSW(Masters in Social Work) at Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana in the field of juvenile corrections. After his Graduate school he worked in the field of juvenile delinquency for 10 years. He burned out and then began an all-purpose business in moving and storage, home repairs, taking down old buildings, and anything people needed help doing. In the late 70's a bank in Dillsburg contacted him and paid him $500.00 to take a barn down for them to put in a parking lot. He got to keep and resell the lumber and it was when many people starting putting old barnwood in their basements. He took the barn down with one of the young men he counseled from Harrisburg that he had taken into his home. That was the start. That led him to an interest in old barns scattered across Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. He learned that people wanted the old barns torn down to get the beautiful antique woods to use for other projects, or they wanted the barns restored and in many cases moved to another spot. Pretty soon Dale was becoming an expert in restoring, moving, and constructing barns for many purposes—new homes, entertainment centers, storage, and much more.
As early as 2003, Dale was already considered by some to be one of the leading people in his profession, and recognized as one of the founding fathers of what was becoming a new and exciting construction trend (see the blurb on his website www.vintagewoods.com from American profile.com, 8/24/2003). His reputation caught the attention of Oscar award winning actor, Robert de Niro, who asked Dale to come and restore a barn or two on his extensive property in upstate New York. The work grew, and Dale stayed to work for de Niro for a decade. There were many barns to restore, move, and enhance. Dale was also building a dedicated team of close-knit, expert colleagues. His motto on their T-shirts was “Barn Again”.
Today, Dale is probably one of just a handful of people doing this kind of barn saving work and has decades of experience working with barns and antique lumbers. He has taken on projects in almost every part of the country and in other countries as well. Also, since he has purchased and disassembled hundreds of old barns, his three-plus storage facilities have grown to hold diverse types of barns (each piece of each barn numbered) and vintage lumbers. This allows him to advertise many types of barns for customers looking for a particular type to be installed and enhanced on their properties. The growth of the restoring-old-hardwood-barns movement owes a great deal to Dale Lehmer, including the inspiration of others who have followed in his footsteps. Dale’s son, Kelly, also works with him and has for over 30 years and is an excellent craftsman in his own right and does much of the finished work like stair systems and catwalk and balconies and assorted cabinetry with antique woods.
Dale lives in Sebastian, Florida in the winter and Rossie, NY in the summer with his wife Sophie Lehmer, who does architectural drawings of their barn homes, and his best friend, Rusty (pictured in the bike basket above) and 4 cats. They love to go for bike rides down by the Sebastian River and look for alligators. Dale loves his work, and hopes to keep working as long as his health allows. So far so good.