Two strangers knocked on the front door of Dr. Stephen and Patricia Frank’s home, asking if they could research a round barn in the Franks’ yard.

That’s when the Franks were sure that they owned a unique piece of history.

The strangers were architecture students from Ball State University who wanted to write a history of the Franks’ barn.

The students concluded that only three 12-sided barns with a cupola and coned roof were ever built in Indiana. The Franks’ barn along County Road 100 South was built in 1914. The researchers wrote in their 1995 report, “This scarcity of such an architectural structure adds to its importance.”

The Franks were well aware of its significance. The barn had long been a focal point for the family.

Occasionally, the Franks and their children slept in the barn when a mare was ready to give birth. Another time, at Halloween, the structure was transformed into a haunted barn for an Anderson University group.

And, added Stephen Frank, “The SWAT team used it for training one time. We’re still finding blank shells up there.”

He’s a chiropractor with offices at 520 E. Eighth St. His wife, Patricia, is an artist who works mainly in watercolors. They have two grown, married children, Michelle Frazier and Chad Frank, and four grandchildren.

The Franks have lived in two homes — each with a different view of the barn. In the first, a 1911 two-story farmhouse, they raised their children and, at one time, stabled 17 horses.

“It was a wonderful way to raise our kids,” said Patricia Frank.

But that home seemed cramped when they hosted church gatherings.

They built a second home, in which they now live, to the north and east of the barn. The new home has larger, more open areas in the living room and kitchen.

But most significantly, the dining room is more spacious. It was designed to reflect the angled corners of the round barn.

“I wanted this to be a very open structure,” said Patricia Frank. “I wanted a big dining room in the front, and I wanted it to tie in with the barn.”

The dining room is an airy two stories with windows on the first level. Six windows, letting in indirect sunlight, are near the ceiling. In the center of the room stands a sturdy 9-foot-long oak table with eight chairs, likely enough seating for the Franks’ growing number of grandchildren.