Hiram Smith Hall and Annex
About this property
The Hiram Smith Hall and Annex is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The hall was built in 1891 to house the first permanent dairy school in the western hemisphere, which had been established the year before. The annex was added in 1909 as the dairy school grew. In 1985 the pair were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The University of Wisconsin (UW) was created in 1848, with its early buildings on the east side of Bascom Hill, facing the state capitol. Early on, the UW taught a classical curriculum, focusing on geography, English grammar, Latin and Greek. As years passed, that curriculum shifted to more practical subjects like the mechanical arts and agriculture. At first the whole UW was housed in North Hall. South Hall was the next added. As more buildings were added, departments moved to them and in 1884 South Hall became Agriculture Hall. In 1886 the UW initiated its Short Course in Agriculture - twelve weeks of practical instruction for farmers, held in the winter when they weren't busy with crops. The UW's College of Agriculture was founded in 1889. The UW Dairy School was started the following year - a twelve-week practical course in butter and cheesemaking - the first permanent dairy school in the U.S. To house that Dairy School, Dean Henry and Stephen Babcock cobbled together a modest wooden building that looked like a house. Two students enrolled in the Dairy School in 1890 - the first year. But also in 1890 Stephen Babcock developed his test to determine the fat content in a sample of milk. This quick and simple test let creameries pay individual farmers more for better-quality milk, encouraging improvement of herds and cattle care, and helped the dairy industry grow. The Babcock tester and the UW's short courses were economically valuable to the state and brought publicity, producing support for the UW's dairy endeavors. On this wave of good will, Dean Henry and farmer, legislator and UW Regent Hiram Smith persuaded the state legislature to approve funds to build a dairy instruction building on the UW campus. (One of Dean Henry's tactics was to have legislators observe students making butter and cheese in that first dairy building, to see how crowded it was.) It was good that the new building was approved, because enrollment in the dairy school leaped from two in 1890 to 75 in January 1891. The new building was designed by George Ferry of Milwaukee. The lowest bid for construction was from T.C. McCarthy, who had previously supervised building of the 1885 Science Hall and the 1885 UW-Chemistry building, among other projects. Construction of Hiram Smith Hall began in the fall of 1891, with the contract specifying that the first floor be ready for students by January 1, 1892. McCarthy's firm achieved that ambitious goal, with 100 dairy students starting classes there in January. Construction of the upper floors continued for months into mid-1892.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Hiram Smith Hall and Annex listed on the National Register?
Hiram Smith Hall and Annex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1985.
What type of historic resource is Hiram Smith Hall and Annex?
Hiram Smith Hall and Annex is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Hiram Smith Hall and Annex?
The period of significance for Hiram Smith Hall and Annex is recorded as the industrial era.
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