PRESIDENT'S BARN

This barn, located about 175 feet east of South Hall, was apparently built by President Welch with his own funds. The 1874 date of construction rests on an entry in the May 1874 minutes when funds were appropriated “for the painting of the new barn and the wood-shed to the President’s house.”

At the December 1878 Board meeting purchase of the barn was discussed, but no action was taken. Apparently it was then bought by Professor Stalker for use by his department. The March 1879 issue of The Aurora reported:

The barn, formerly used by the President, is being fitted up for a dissecting room for the use of the veterinarians. It is to be ceiled throughout. Professor Stalker says that, when completed, it will be better that the dissection rooms in the Veterinary College in New York or Toronto.

In December 1880 Professor Stalker asked the Board of Trustees to reimburse him for a barn he purchased to use for a veterinary hospital. Not until 1882 was he paid and then he paid the college $40 in cash, in addition to his $225.61 investment in the barn, and received in exchange 40 acres of land owned by the college in Boone County.

In 1889 the barn was “set apart as a tool room and stable in charge of the committee on Public Grounds.”¹ A few years later the upper floor was assigned to Domestic Economy for storage.²

At the Board meeting of December 23, 1904, the custodian was authorized “to remove the old barn back of Music Building.” (i.e. South Hall)