Hiram Smith Hall

1545 Observatory Drive

Built in 1892

Hiram Smith Hall was the first major construction on the current UW agriculture campus and was home to the first dairy school in the country. The dairy program moved to Hiram Smith Hall from South Hall, where Babcock started his work on the milk butterfat test. Babcock’s tester, primarily a centrifuge, can now be found in the lobby of Babcock Hall, which is where the Department of Food Science moved in 1953. Today, Hiram Smith Hall houses the Department of Life Sciences Communication (formerly Agricultural Journalism), which specializes in science communication. Hiram Smith was a member of the UW Board of Regents as well as a leading dairy farmer who had a major influence on securing the funding for this building. Web site: www.lsc.wisc.edu