University of Illinois Round Barns - Significance

Significance

The Twenty Acre Dairy Barn, the Dairy Horse Barn, and the Dairy Experiment Barn were all listed as contributing properties within the University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District when it joined the National Register of Historic Places on February 4, 1994. The barns played a broader role in the history of American agriculture, specifically in the Midwest states. The barns at the University of Illinois were part of a larger move by Agricultural Experiment Stations meant to promote round barn design, mostly on account of their "efficiency." For a time, the round barn became a popular design across the Midwest, with hundreds being constructed in Illinois and Indiana alone. While the earliest round barns date to the 1820s, earlier if the round barn at Mount Vernon is included, the "round barn era" spanned the decades from 1880 to 1920.

In Illinois the round barns at the University of Illinois led to an increase in the style's popularity statewide. This was due, in part, to the access to audience that the U of I's Agricultural Experiment Station has through the publication of regular "Bulletins." The Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin coupled with an article by H.C. Crouch touting round barns in the Illinois Agriculturalist led to the construction of round barns across the state. Anecdotal evidence of the impact of the University of Illinois round barns can be collected from farmers today. Stories about fathers and grandfathers recollect round barns being constructed on account of what was going on "over at the University."