Barns and Cattle Shed
Title
Barns and Cattle Shed
Subject
[no text]
Description
The University of Massachusetts was founded as a Morrill Land Grant school in 1863. The school was originally called the Massachusetts Agricultural College, then the Massachusetts State College in 1931, and finally became the University of Massachusetts in 1947. These changes in name reflect a change in the very focus of the school. At its founding, UMass was an agricultural school. When the student population began to grow so did the course offerings, and Massachusetts State College became a liberal arts college. Finally the G.I. Bill and the rise in student population that it encouraged helped to create the University of Massachusetts that we know today. The image Edgar T. Scott captured for his 1913 postcard, “Barns and Cattle Shed at Massachusetts Agricultural College,” helps to illustrate the changes that have come to UMass over the years. The post card shows “Several barns located in a field planted with rows of corn.”
This entry is framed around the first of these images, though all of the photos help capture the agrarian focus of the school. The open space is used for corn and in the background of the photo you can see barns and a cattle shed as well as Grinnell Arena (which had been built recently when the photograph was taken) as a livestock and animal husbandry judging arena. Just to the right of the shot would stand Blaisdell House. Blaisedell House was constructed in 1869, making it the oldest building still standing on the UMass Campus, the college only having opened in 1867. It was constructed to house the Farm Superintendant. In 1893 the house was moved to where it stands today.
The horse barn, which is the most recognizable piece of UMass which is still standing, was originally used for draft horses to be used for farming work. However, as the school developed and became Massachusetts State College, the need for farm horses such as Clydesdales shrank. The barn was left empty, and was used to shelter the Morgan Horses after the 1940 disbanding of the U.S. Cavalry. In fact the Horse Barn at UMass is considered the birthplace of the modern Bay State Morgan, which is the horse of Massachusetts, the animal of Vermont, and the only horse breed to hail from the United States of America. The corn fields were also replaced by roads and trees in the 1940s, which also follows the college’s trend away from an agricultural school and towards a liberal arts college.
With the continued growth of the school and the creation of the University of Massachusetts, the demands of the ever growing student population had to be met. Where cornfields and the barns in the left of the picture once stood there is now the George N. Parks Marching Band Building, which is attached to the Grinnelle Arena (the building as it is now was not complete until 2011). Also new to the lot shown in the picture is the Recreation Center (completed in 2009). In order to satisfy the parking needs of the students using these new buildings a parking lot was constructed.
Yet despite these modern buildings, the Horse Barn, Grinnelle Arena, and Blaisdell House still stand. They, along with the new Band Room and the Rec Center were all constructed to meet the needs and expectations of a growing school. Those five buildings, new and old, in such close proximity tell a complex history.
This entry is framed around the first of these images, though all of the photos help capture the agrarian focus of the school. The open space is used for corn and in the background of the photo you can see barns and a cattle shed as well as Grinnell Arena (which had been built recently when the photograph was taken) as a livestock and animal husbandry judging arena. Just to the right of the shot would stand Blaisdell House. Blaisedell House was constructed in 1869, making it the oldest building still standing on the UMass Campus, the college only having opened in 1867. It was constructed to house the Farm Superintendant. In 1893 the house was moved to where it stands today.
The horse barn, which is the most recognizable piece of UMass which is still standing, was originally used for draft horses to be used for farming work. However, as the school developed and became Massachusetts State College, the need for farm horses such as Clydesdales shrank. The barn was left empty, and was used to shelter the Morgan Horses after the 1940 disbanding of the U.S. Cavalry. In fact the Horse Barn at UMass is considered the birthplace of the modern Bay State Morgan, which is the horse of Massachusetts, the animal of Vermont, and the only horse breed to hail from the United States of America. The corn fields were also replaced by roads and trees in the 1940s, which also follows the college’s trend away from an agricultural school and towards a liberal arts college.
With the continued growth of the school and the creation of the University of Massachusetts, the demands of the ever growing student population had to be met. Where cornfields and the barns in the left of the picture once stood there is now the George N. Parks Marching Band Building, which is attached to the Grinnelle Arena (the building as it is now was not complete until 2011). Also new to the lot shown in the picture is the Recreation Center (completed in 2009). In order to satisfy the parking needs of the students using these new buildings a parking lot was constructed.
Yet despite these modern buildings, the Horse Barn, Grinnelle Arena, and Blaisdell House still stand. They, along with the new Band Room and the Rec Center were all constructed to meet the needs and expectations of a growing school. Those five buildings, new and old, in such close proximity tell a complex history.
Creator
[no text]
Source
UMass Special Collections and University Archives
Publisher
[no text]
Date
[no text]
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
[no text]
Relation
[no text]
Format
[no text]
Language
[no text]
Type
[no text]
Identifier
RG150-0003174, RG150-0003175, RG150-0003176, RG150-0003178, RG150-0003206
Coverage
[no text]
Original Format
[no text]
Physical Dimensions
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