Historical Buildings- Public Relations

The Territorial Assembly of Utah in 1890 appropriated the funds to build a “Model Farm House” and a “Laboratory” (Experiment Station Building).

The first president of the Agricultural College of Utah and director of the Experiment Station, Jeremiah Wilson Sanborn, was almost certainly the designer of the floor plan. Charles L. Crane of Salt Lake City was the contractor. The building was built between April 19, 1890 and August 1, 1890. The final cost was $5,084.50.

The Experiment Station was established for agricultural experimentation and research for the state of Utah as a result of the Hatch Act of 1887 in which the US government authorized an agricultural experiment station in each state in order to improve the productivity and stability of agricultural practices in the United States. The Experiment Station directed agricultural experiments that were conducted throughout the state.

While used as the Experiment Station, significant advancements in dry-land farming were developed in this building. In 1902- 1912 it was the headquarters of the State DryFarm Experiments, sponsored by the State Legislature and the US Department of Agriculture. Standards in dry farming were developed from the station’s own experiments and knowledge from the experience of area farmers. The standardized techniques developed here for dry-farming were published in Dry-Farming, a System of Agriculture for Countries under a low Rainfall by John A. Widstoe (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1911), recognized by many to be the standard in dry-farming. Many other books and articles have been written as a result of the experiments and research accomplished under the direction of the Experiment Station. 

The building housed the Experiment Station from 1890-1956. It has since been used by the Information News Services and Public Relations departments of the University.

The appearance of the two story brick building is still much as it was upon completion in 1890. Around 1960 the ornamental porch structure on the main entrance was removed and another entrance was created. In 2000-2001 a remodel was completed in which the ornamental porch was recreated, the roof replaced, interior refurbished and seismic upgrades made to the structure.