HORTICULTURE BARN

Located at what is now the southeast corner of Spedding Hall.

About 1900 the need for a barn for horticulture was first expressed.¹ Plans were prepared and bids taken in 1903, but the project was postponed until the following year when new bids were received. The contract was awarded to M. Hullibarger for $5,040 in September 1904. The architect was paid $151.20.² Additional funds of $306 for lighting, plumbing and fencing were allocated in December of that year.

The building was used “for the storing of seeds and nursery stock, and for housing the teams, wagons and implements belonging to the Department.”³ A cold storage room was added in the basement in 1905 and a sewage disposal field in 1911 for the Horticultural house and barn.

In 1925 “some members of the faculty are studying interior plans for a house to be developed from the brick Horticulture Barn north of the Chemistry Building.”⁴ In April $500 was allocated for the remodeling which was undertaken immediately.

The new function is described in the Biennial Report for 1928-30:

For several years past we have been using a remodeled horse barn for the nursery school. This year we are adding a remodeled residence located near it. The Nursery School and the work with small children by the students in Home Economics is rapidly growing in significance and value, and there is every reason to increase the capacity of the nursery school as soon as possible in order to give the girls in Home Economics more adequate opportunity to study small children.

When construction of Spedding Hall was about to be started it was essential to remove the Horticulture Barn and the Beyer House (Nursery School Annex). Bids on the sale and removal of the two buildings were called for on December 14, 1948. Only one bid was received and it was accepted from the American Lumber and Wrecking Company of Des Moines. They paid the college $310 for the structures and removed them from the grounds.