LITTLE VALLEY — The next time you drive by the Cattaraugus County fairgrounds in Little Valley you’ll notice a new horse barn near the horse ring.

Instead of the rusty curved corrugated metal building with interior stalls, a sleek green and white metal sided building with a peaked roof and interior and exterior stalls stands in its place. It’s very similar to the horse barn constructed several years ago.

It’s not until you look inside that you see the original dark-colored wooden stalls highlighted by light-colored Douglas fir. Outside, new Douglas fir covers the exterior stalls.

John Charlesworth, president of the Cattaraugus County Agricultural Society thought about dismantling the old horse barn and building a new one around the old stalls. The Agricultural Society owns the Cattaraugus County fairgrounds.

“It was built in 1936, making it the second-oldest building on the fairgrounds,” Charlesworth said at the building site Thursday. The grandstand is older, built in 1927.

Charlesworth said he got some flack for dismantling much of the old barn. The stalls, rebuilt a few years ago, were worth saving and building around, he said. “We used the old concrete foundation” and built around it. “It’s the ninth new building at the fairgrounds,” he added.

Duane Smith of S&S General Contractors, Cattaraugus, has built many of those new buildings. “We’re almost done here,” he said on Thursday.

He and his son, Cain, along with Mike Ferguson and Justin Hostettler have spent 20 days working on the horse barn. On Thursday they were hanging doors and putting on metal trim.

“It’s 57 feet by 200 feet,” Smith said. “They left the old stalls. It’s been a challenge. We pride ourselves on building things strong. The roof went up in two days.”

Smith added, “This is the best-looking small county fair in the state.”

(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)