Tour - UW-Madison College of Ag and Life Sciences Century Buildings

UW-Madison College of Ag and Life Sciences Century Buildings

Madison, Wisconsin 53715, United States

Created By: UW-Madison

Tour Information

The College of Agriculture was established in 1862 when the U. S. Land Grant System Act was enacted. The college offices and laboratories were initiall housed in South Hall. At that time the land where the college's facilties was farm land, some it used for research. The first buildings construct were barns dairy cattle, horses and other livestock. The college offices were moved to Agricultural Hall, when construction was completed in 1903. The firdt structures constructed on today.s campus and still standing today, 2018, were the Livstock Barn, now called the horse barn and Science House, both constructed in 1868. Other buildings constructed before Ag. Hall were Hiram Smith (1892), Soil Science/King Hall (1894), Dean's House (1896), Historic Dairy Barn (1898), nnd Ag. Bulletin -Heating Plant (1899). This walking tour has fourteen stops at historical buildings, built more than a century ago and still standing.in 2018.

Tour Map

Loading Tour

What You'll See on the Tour

Agricultural Hall

Agricultural Hall – (1450 Linden Drive) ) (built 1903) became home for most of the agricultural programs at the time. Many of these programs became departments and soon had their own buildings. Today it is home to College Administration,... Read more

Agricultural Engineering

Agricultural Engineering – (460 Henry Mall) (b. 1905) was the first building on campus constructed using reinforced concrete. Agricultural Engineering Department, now called Biological Systems Engineering (BSE). The American Socie... Read more

DeLuca Biochemical Sciences

DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Building – (440 Henry Mall) was constructed in 1904 and home of the Agronomy Department until 1930. It then became home to Genetics until 1963, Dairy Science until 1972, and Agricultural Journalism, now called ... Read more

DeLuca Biochemistry Building

DeLuca Biochemistry Building (420 Henry Mall) built in 1912, has been this department's home from the start. Scientists working in this department made many important discoveries. Some of the discoveries include: 1. Vitamin A in butterfat a... Read more

Horticulture

Horticulture – (1575 Linden Drive) – (b. 1910) Horticulture was one of the earliest departments in the college. The department was originally in a section of Soils Physics which is now King Hall/Soils. In 1910 this new Horticulture buil... Read more

Hiram Smith

Hiram Smith Hall – (1545 Observatory Drive) – (built 1892) was the first major construction on the current agriculture campus and was home to the first Dairy School in the country. The dairy program was moved from South Hall where Babco... Read more

Hiram Smith Annex

Hiram Smith Annex (built 1910) adjacent to the Hiram Smith was designed to alleviate the crowding in the agriculture long courses. It was designed to support dairy related course. The dairy program outgrew their space and moved to Babcock H... Read more

Soil Science/ King Hall

Soil Science and King Hall – (1535 Observatory Drive) – (b. 1894, 1898) first housed the Horticulture and Agricultural Physics Departments. Today it is home to the Soil Science Department. In 1904, Agricultural Physics was divided into ... Read more

Ag Bulletin

Agricultural Bulletin Building – (1535 Observatory Drive) – (b. 1899) served as the college heating plant which replaced the heating system in Hiram Smith. This building served as the heating and machine shop until 1937 when it became t... Read more

Agricultural Dean's House

Agricultural Dean’s House and Allen Centennial Garden – (620 Babcock Drive) – (built - 1896). The yellow brick house served as the private residence of the college dean W. A. Henry. It served as the college dean’s residence until 19... Read more

Stock Pavilion

Stock Pavilion – (1675 Linden Drive) - (built - 1908) seats 1,750 spectators for livestock shows. The pavilion was the largest gathering place in Madison until 1930. It was also designed to provide a home for the university horses which u... Read more

Horse Barn

Horse Barn – (520 Elm Drive) - (built - 1868) was the original barn, referred to as the farm barn housed livestock and draft horses. In about 1899, the barn was redesigned for draft horses to work the nearby fields and was named the Horse... Read more

Historic Dairy Barn

Historic Dairy Barn - (1915 Linden Drive) - (built - 1898) was patterned after barns in Normandy, France. F. H. King and other faculty had major input into the barn’s design to meet their needs for their research and instruction. This was... Read more