SERUM PLANT
Hog Serum Plant, Biological Laboratory
Built: 1913
Architect: Mr. King of Building & Grounds Dept.
Contractor: LThomas Sloss, Supt. Bldgs. & Grounds
Razed: 1926 1
This building was located at what is now the northwest corner of the Veterinary Clinic. It was a U-shaped structure 100 feet wide with the two wings, each 40 feet wide by 150 feet long, built of brick and with cement floor. It faced south.
A hog-cholera epidemic in 1913 resulted in the loss of 25 percent of the state’s swine population.2 The Serum Plant was erected that year, on an emergency basis, to produce a serum to counteract the disease. A special state appropriation provided for construction, equipment and some operating costs, although the total operation was assumed to be self-supporting.
The plant continued in operation until 1920 when the governor ordered it shut down when operational costs became too high for the reduced demand for the serum.3
From then until the building was razed it was used for research by the veterinary medicine division.