A Landmark Filled With Memories

Ruth Swaner, local author and artist, shared some of her stories as an art education student at USU in the 1960s. She said it was a “wild and wonderful time,” though also marked by sad events like the assassination of President Kennedy. The Art Barn was a focal point for her college career. She remembered it being full of experiences and friends. “It was a fun place. . . I looked forward to it every day.” She had a lot of learning experiences there. “I found out along the way that I’d rather do art than teach art. . . I never did teach. I decided to get married, have a family, and just do art, and that’s what I’ve really enjoyed doing.”

Mrs. Swaner described the Art Barn in the 1960s. When she was a student she said everyone knew the Art Barn, and it was often a meeting place for students heading to the Hub (in the student center). She said, “The Art Barn is a landmark to me, and it stood out because it was a different shape than the rest of the buildings.” She also described what it was like inside. “There was lots of sunlight coming through all the windows, and the smell of the clay and sometimes the smell of the oils for oil painting.” Pottery was taught on the first floor of the barn, and on the second floor were sculpture and anatomy for artists, where they learned to draw skeletons and muscle systems. Life drawing was on the third floor. Other art classes were held on the third floor of Old Main. She remembered having to get to the second and third floor of the barn by climbing the fire escape stairs on the west side of the building.

One of her favorite professors was Larry Elsner, an award winning artist who taught pottery. She struggled to make anything on the pottery wheel, but she made a pot or vase on the pottery table that she still has to remind her of her days at the Art Barn.

Life drawing was a controversial class because it used naked models, which many of the students were not expecting. Mrs. Swaner described the shock of the class, “When the first person disrobed, you could hear a pin drop. . . I just about dropped my pencil.” Many of the students were very uncomfortable. Some LDS returned missionaries protested the class, which was required for their major, by going to the university administration and asking them to cancel it. They also complained to their church leaders, who quieted their concerns by stating that the human form was a beautiful creation and that learning to draw it could be a worthwhile part of their education. That controversy passed, but another led to the departure of the professor who bucked the clothed-model trend. Mrs. Swaner was surprised years later, however, when she was watching the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and he introduced the winner of a muscle man award, who turned out to be that very same former professor. Apparently he had made quite a career change.

Mrs. Swaner feels that the Art Barn should always be preserved on campus because of all the memories and experiences that took place there for herself and other students. She was afraid it might be torn down, and she said “This is even more exciting for me to know that they’re going to turn it into something really special . . . We need to preserve the past . . . Old buildings that are filled with memories should be preserved.” She believes that knowing the past can help us all be better people in the future.

Historic Barns and Historic Preservation

In the early days of USU, when it was Utah Agricultural College, barns were an important part of the landscape on campus, in Cache Valley, and throughout northern Utah. Though the Art Barn is the only remaining barn on USU’s campus, barns are still an important feature of Cache Valley’s historic landscape. These historic Cache Valley barns provide a link to the history of USU’s barns.

The original USU horse barn, which was built next to Old Main in 1893, was a large, square, stone building. Though that barn was removed to make room for more classrooms in 1919, a good example of this type of barn is the Logan Temple Barn, which was likely patterned after USU’s horse barn. The Logan Temple Barn, located less than a block east of the Logan LDS Temple, was built in 1897 to accommodate the horses of temple visitors. Like the original USU horse barn, automobiles made the Logan Temple Barn obsolete by 1919, but Thomas Budge purchased it as a garage for his hospital, which was once located across the street from the barn. Today the Logan Temple Barn is privately owned. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the Historic American Buildings Survey.

When the original USU horse barn was torn down in 1919, a new horse barn (our Art Barn) was built near the vet science building. This barn was cutting-edge for its time, representing the spirit of agricultural innovation at Utah State and in Cache Valley. Its gambrel roof and Jackson Fork allowed hay to be stored conveniently in the loft, and its cement floor was easy to clean. Other historic Cache Valley barns incorporated some of these features too, though it is uncertain if any were directly influenced by the Art Barn.

Like many other historic structures in Cache Valley, the Art Barn’s functions changed over time. In the 1950s the animals and barns were moved off the main campus, except for the horse barn, which remained because of its solid foundation and became the Art Barn. In the 1970s, when the art department moved into its new building, the barn served as overflow office space and classrooms for several departments. Its conversion to a welcome center and museum comes at a time when USU has just opened a new Equine Education Center in Wellsville, a tribute to the continuing importance of horses at USU, and is constructing a new building for the College of Agriculture directly across the quad from Old Main and from where the original horse barn once stood.

This history of adaptive reuse, or rehabilitation, of the Art Barn is a good example of how historic buildings can be preserved and put to new uses. Reuse of historic buildings reduces the environmental impacts that are associated with new construction while preserving the history and heritage that are so important to any place’s identity. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Barn Again program provides information about preserving historic barns, and the Bear River Heritage Area’s “Historic Barns of Northern Utah,” is a good source for more information about historic Cache Valley barns. Both are available online.

Above: Photo of the Logan Temple Barn courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, reproduction number HABS UTAH,3-LOG,2A- Below: USU archives photo from 1906 of the old horse barn, or Model Barn, near Old Main, with the other campus barns, and the future location of the Art Barn, in the background.

The Heart of Cache Valley

To Leo Krebs, 89 year old North Logan native and former USU dairy herdsman, Utah State University is the heart of Cache Valley. He has a lot of memories of watching the campus change over the years as most of the barns and animals were removed and newer buildings, like the nearby Nelson Fieldhouse and the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, were constructed.

Many of Mr. Krebs' memories are of the horse barn. He used one of the university's Persian work horses, a dapple gray mare named Lucy, to haul hay to the other animals. He remembers that USU grew its own hay, but it also bought hay from local farmers. The hay would be loaded into the loft of the horse barn with a Jackson fork. To feed the hay to the horses, they would shove it down through holes in the ceiling.

Many young people getting an education at USU had learning experiences at the horse barn. Mr. Krebs remembers one young man in particular. "I asked him to unharness her [Lucy] one night and he unharnessed her. The next morning when I went to put the harness on her, he had undone all the buckles. I had to put the harness back together." Mr Krebs laughed at the memory, saying, "He was a very good boy but he was just learning how to put a harness on a horse."

In addition to the two teams of work horses, USU also kept stud stallions that were "outstanding horses" meant to improve the quality of horses in Cache Valley. Mr. Krebs explained, "They [the university] were the only ones that could afford a good horse or a good stallion like that and so they would have them there for breeding services for a very cheap price." This allowed Cache Valley farmers to improve the quality of their own stock.

Mr. Krebs has witnessed a lot of changes at USU, and he looks forward to seeing the historic horse barn rehabilitated as the new USU Museum of Anthropology and Welcome Center. He says, "Tell them to hurry up so I can see it."

Ghosts of the Art Barn

All college campuses have ghost stories, and Utah State University is no exception. There may even be a ghost or two haunting the Art Barn. John Seiter, a USU speech communication professor who once taught in the Art Barn, remembers that a number of his students said there was a ghost in the barn. In fact, some of his students decided that the Art Barn was haunted by a ghost pig. He explains how this story came to be:

"Antonio [a large ceramic pig from San Antonio that Dr. Seiter keeps in his office] ended up being in the barn, and it's the best conversation piece for a professor, especially a professor whose office is in the barn . . . My students joked that there was a ghost in the barn, and of course a lot of things started being attributed to this. It started as a ghost, and it ended up as a pig ghost . . . For a while they were blaming it on my pig, and then it went from my pig to it's an actual ghost pig. And they had a name for it; it wasn't Antonio. I can't remember what the name was, but, you know that banging [the building had steam heat] that happens at odd times when you're in class? Sometimes you're teaching and the banging would start and the students would go 'It's the ghost pig.'"

Dr. Seiter said that some of his students also thought that on rainy days the Art Barn still smelled like hay from its horse barn days.

What do you think? Is the Art Barn haunted? If you know any spooky (or funny) legends or stories about the barn, post a comment and let us know!

New Aggie Barn Banners!

In honor of Homecoming 2010, "Team Barn" has affixed banners to the north and south gambrel areas of the Aggie Barn, showing how it will look after renovation. Here's a sneak preview, and drive by when you get a chance to check the banners out in person. They look really nice!

Bryant Gomm

Bryant Gomm had an unusual job while he attended USU in the late 1940s. He was hired, along with two other students, by the Vet Science department to live in the Vet Science building and help take care of the animals in the barns. Mr. Gomm's primary job was to care for the rabbits, chickens, and turkeys and to help keep the building clean. On weekends when one of the other students, Daniel Dennis, was not around, Mr. Gomm also looked after the horses. This involved feeding the horses and taking them to the cow barn to water them.

One particular experience with the horse barn stands out in Mr. Gomm's memory. He said that one time as he headed to the horse barn, he decided to let out a loud coyote yelp. He hadn't expected the reaction that he got. "Those horses stomped and jerked around. I thought they were going to tear the place apart before I could get them calmed back down." These were draft horses, either Percherons or Morgans, and Mr. Gomm remembers that they were very gentle, "except when I coyote'd them."

For his hard work, Mr. Gomm was paid 40 cents an hour. This, along with the milk, eggs, and meat from the chickens and rabbits that the Vet Science department let him keep, helped Mr. Gomm work his way through college. He went on to get a PhD in plant physiology and worked for the USDA, as well as occasionally teaching classes at Utah State University.

Ron Keller

In an interview, Ron Keller shared his experience working at the barn in 1950. He was twelve years old and had grown up riding horses, milking cows, and picking apples on his family's farm. His neighbor, Mr. Batt, worked for the college and hired him to ride the work horses that were used to haul hay to the barn.

Mr. Keller would strap a large harness around the horse's belly and under its tail. The work horses were very big, so it was a bit tricky for a twelve year old boy to sit on the horse and wrap his legs around it, but he managed to do it. He would ride the horses as they used a Jackson fork to haul bales of hay from the delivery truck into the barn. They could only unload 4 or 5 bales at a time, so it was a long, hot process to unload the trucks, which carried about 150 bales.

The job had its rewards, though. Mr. Keller said, "That was the first job I can remember that I ever got paid for and I made two dollars per day. That was a lot of money, I thought. I remember going down with my first check and buying a pair of pants and a shirt that I'd admired for so long, and several things just out of one day's pay, you know. So it was fun."

When the other barns were dismantled a few years later to make room for the Taggart Student Center, Mr. Keller's father used some of the the materials from the barns to build a garage, which is still standing behind Mr. Keller's house. Mr. Keller later did some other work on campus as a mechanic and welder, and all nine of his children were also involved with Utah State University.

Jon Anderson & Don Young

Jon Anderson, retired USU Art Professor, has donated a painting from 1966 to the USU Museum of Anthropology. The piece depicts a scene in the Art Barn by one of Anderson’s illustration students, Don Young. Young painted this piece in a life drawing class as one of Anderson’s assignments. The assignment scenario asked students to create a scene depicting two USU police officers bursting into their classroom chasing after a burglar.

Completed in just two weeks time, the painting depicts the 1960s interior of the 3rd floor of the Art Barn with its exposed rafter beams, black wooden seats and student art work displayed on its walls. The painting’s vibrant colors and detail give viewers a glimpse of an art form then commonly seen on the front cover of magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and Newsweek in the 1960s and 70s and now often gracing the front cover of romance novels.

The artist Don Young died an untimely death at the young age of 30 from diabetes. However, his talent, shown through this painting, will impact future generations as a unique piece of USU’s Barn history. Thanks to Mr. Young and Mr. Anderson for sharing this wonderful work and story.

W. Lorenzo Skidmore

Jon Alfred, Barn Team historian, writes the following about USU Barn architect W. L. Skidmore:

In my quest to find out more about W.L. Skidmore, I have discovered that he is NOT related to Skidmore Construction of Idaho Falls, as we had earlier speculated. I spent time with Richard "Dick" Skidmore, who founded the Idaho Falls company more that 50 years ago. He directed me to his brother Bill "William" Skidmore who lives in Brigham City. Bill is a genealogist and knew that his grandfather William Lobark Skidmore had a son named William Lorenzo "Lonnie" Skidmore in his old age. William Lobark Skidmore had two wives and 18 children. Bar architect Lonnie is the half brother of Dick and Bill's dad. Unfortunately, Bill indicated that he doesn't know much about that side of the family; however, he did offer two tidbits:

1. Jay (?) Skidmore was a Sociology professor here on the USU campus and was Lonnie’s son. Jay's wife Hannah Jean, though likely remarried, may still be in the region.

2. Bill said he would learn more about that side of the family and get in contact with me if he found anything intriguing.

Dick did mention that there was a Skidmore architectural firm in L.A. and Bill mentioned one in Chicago. More leads. I will follow up and let you all know what I find.

Man's Best Friend

Landscape Architecture graduate student and Barn research team member Emily Wheeler notes the following based on her work in Special Collections:

On the south end of the Art Barn, above the original barn door and between the impressions of two horseshoes, is the phrase “Man’s Best Friend” (see photo, taken in summer 2008). This inscription dates back to the building’s use as the campus horse barn. In the 1943 yearbook the inscription is explained as being a cavalry motto, but it doesn’t seem that any cavalry regiment used this expression as a motto. Members of the cavalry, however, did sometimes use the phrase “man’s best friend” to describe horses. An article titled "Why Modern Armies Still Cling to the Cavalry,” in the November 1932 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions, states that the cavalry felt that "man's best friend, the horse" would always have a place in war. When the horse barn was built in 1919, most people probably thought that the horse would always have a place on campus, and some of the barn’s designers seem to have agreed that the horse, not the dog, was man’s best friend. At this point, however, the origin of the phrase at it appears on the barn is a mystery. If you know more about this, please leave us a comment!

Details about the "New" 1919 Barn

The following post comes from USU Landscape Architecture graduate student and Barn research team member Emily Wheeler:

"I've been digging through old newspapers and have found out a little more about the destruction of the original horse barn and the building of our Barn. The old barn did not burn down, but some USU students in editorials suggested burning it down if the administration did not remove it. The article I read initially was one of those editorials, written like an actual article. Apparently the barn and its removal was a bit controversial. Even then it was historic, one of the oldest buildings on campus, and it was considered a "model" barn. However, as the campus grew around the barn, it became a nuisance due to the smells, sounds, and sights associated with it. It was finally removed in May 1919.

"On October 10th 1919 the new barn--our Barn--was completed. It was built by Alston & Hoggan of Salt Lake City for about $6,000. It was designed, Alston & Hoggan said, by members of the animal husbandry department with help from a local architect (that would have been W.L. Skidmore, as posted previously). The Barn was designed to fit 11 horses, with 6 individual stalls and 4 box stalls. It had (and still has!) a cement floor, running water, grain bins, a hay and straw chute, harness room, office, and hay loft with hardwood floors. It was considered very modern and attractive. An article I consulted from the period suggested that the hay loft would be a great place to hold a barn dance, but I don't know yet if that ever happened."

So, we wonder, does anyone out there remember the Horse Barn loft having been used for dances or other informal events?

Photo of Guy Cardon & U-Dandy

In the last posting, I shared Alice Cardon Crockett's wonderful story of the horse U-Dandy, who hailed from the Horse Barn. Alice found and shared a picture of her dad, Guy Cardon, who owned Logan's Bluebird Restaurant at the time, with U-Dandy. Guy Cardon stood 6'2" tall, so you can see that U-Dandy was a big horse (but not at all mean!).

The Story of U-Dandy

Alice Cardon Crockett, now of Idaho Falls (and in the photo, looking at a portrait of herself and her mom Joyce Cardon, ca. 1950), sent us the following story she wrote about the Barn, which was to her a "magical place." She knew the barn in the 1950's, when she and her family lived on the brow of the college hill. Alice's dad, Guy Cardon, owned the Bluebird Restaurant, and her best friends were Stephen Merrill (Dr. Milt Merrill's son) and Susan Campbell. She reports that they knew the Barns, Old Main, and the Art Building (when it was by Old Main) like the backs of their hands, much to the dismay of the adults in their lives! Here, in her own wonderful words, is Alice's story of a favorite horse, U-Dandy:


I've loved horses for as long as I can remember. At first, stick horses, smooth barked and silent, were my steeds. They raced like the wind when I rode them, and walked only on the uphill or through bramble bushes. My home was built two blocks from an agricultural college. That same home place is now directly across the street from a thriving university.

The Barns with their paddocks, stalls, corrals, sheds and huge hay barn housed sheep, cows, pigs, turkeys, goats and horses, and was an integral part of the college. My friends, Susan and Stephen, and I made daily trips to the Barns, by foot or bike, in the summer. Horses lived in the side stalls and corrals of the big hay barn. A center isle inside the barn was sided with barred open windows and padlocked stall doors. A wood staircase angled to the hay loft above. We would spend hours in the loft leaping into loose hay, listening for mice, gazing over the campus, never concerning ourselves with upright pitchforks or thirty foot falls.

U-Dandy, one of the Barns' resident horses, was a handsome sorrel with a white blaze and a long line of very official ancestry. I carried freshly picked alfalfa to U-Dandy each morning. He would come out of his stall into his corral when I called him. My dream was to gain his absolute trust and love, then talk my mother and father into letting me bring him home. I never thought in terms of money, just devotion.

One morning, after U-Dandy had finished his alfalfa, I climbed the dimly lit loft stairs and gathered an armful of sweet smelling hay. On my decent I could hear mice scurrying by the grain bins. I asked Susan and Stephen to talk to U-Dandy while I climbed his corral fence to place the hay in his stall. As I was heaping hay into his bin, I noticed the daylight darken at the doorway. U-Dandy was walking in and his stall became instantly very small. I was terrified by the size of him. I reached up and touched his muzzle and uttered the only word I could think of. "Back," I whispered. To my amazement he backed out of the doorway. I slipped past him and scrambled up the corral fence. Susan and Stephen sat motionless, eyes huge with wonder--"friend gets trampled and squashed in horse stall" was written all over their faces.

"I'm going to ride him," I told them. "As soon as he comes out, I'll call him over here and I'll climb onto his back. I'll hold onto his mane...and we'll walk around." My friends said it sounded possible and agreed to watch.

U-Dandy strolled from his stall into the sunny corral. He shone like a new copper penny. I called him over to where I was perched on the top rail. He came. Holding the fence with my left arm, I leaned out, stretching my right leg over his broad back. I eased my balance to the center of his backbone, let go of the fence and latched onto his mane. Except for my pounding heart, all was silent. Then we heard it--the truck of the Barns keeper. The same Barns keeper who had told us not to herd the cows, not to chase the turkeys, not to play in the loft, and not to feed hay to the horses.

As I sat on my faithful steed, the Barns keeper slowed his truck. His stern face told me I should dismount, maybe even run. Susan and Stephen jumped to the bottom rail just as I caught the top rail. U-Dandy spun on a dime and galloped to the far corral corner, then faced me. "That's a stud horse," growled the Barns keeper as he walked towards us. "He bites and he's mean. I don't want you anywhere near him. He'll bite your fingers off. Git home, the three of ya." We did, lickety split.

Until the college horse barn became the university Art Barn, I faithfully brought alfalfa to U-Dandy who did not bite and was never mean. And in my university years, I came to the Art Barn to throw clay pots--just kitty-corner from the stall where U-Dandy had munched hay years ago.

Interview Excerpt, Michael Butkus, '68 & '76

After graduating from USU in 1968 with a zoology major, Michael Butkus enlisted in the Army, eventually receiving training as a combat engineer officer and military intelligence officer. He earned a master's degree from USU in outdoor recreation in 1976, began working at USU in 1988, and currently serves as an academic advisor in the College of Natural Resources. He recalls the following about spending time in the mid-1960s in the Art Barn, where he posed as a model for art classes:

"The Vietnam War was going on hot and heavy; it was getting even worse and Utah State was not above its little influences as far as demonstrations with the activists around. But as I thought back about it, the Art Barn sort of sat in the middle of everything; it seemed like kind of a refuge from some of the other stuff that was going on. By the student center there would be demonstrations and people would be marching around and so forth, but it just seemed like the Art Barn itself, just based on its nature on what went on in there, was kind of a refuge from all that, and I sort of got that sense when I went in to do my posing.

"It was pretty quiet, and people were focused on the art aspect of what we were doing, and there weren’t other influences that would be evident at that particular time. I always thought it was kind of cool that we had sort of a neat little facility right there in the middle of campus, particularly in this time of our history when it was pretty intense and all the stress going on with different people and people had chances to relieve that stress. I think maybe that was something that the Art Barn could give."

Clio Club presentation, Feb. 17, 2010

Barn Team historian Jon Alfred presents his Barn-related findings at a Clio Club meeting, February 17, 2010.

Interview Excerpt, Charles Huenemann, Ph.D.

Dr. Charles Huenemann is a Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University who was assigned to an office in the Barn when he arrived at USU in 1994. He recalls the following:

"It was really great to be in the Barn because we had a sense of camaraderie, and we were off on the edge of campus in a certain sense in a marginalized building, and people would say, “Where’s your office?” “Oh, the barn.” It was kind of a funny place to have an office, and we were away from Old Main and the heart of our department with all the hustle and bustle so we kind of felt like we were out in the boonies, and I think that kind of drew us closer together….

"The fact that we were all in this old building together gave us this sense of being a club in a way, and as new people came into the Barn, they would join the club, as people left the Barn, we would designate them as honorary Barnies, which is what we called each other, Barnies.

"A guy next to me had a pet snake in his office, but every so often he would let the snake out to just kind of climb around…. What was funny, the snake’s name was Smith, and you’d be walking down the hall and suddenly there would be this four or five foot long King snake. It looked kind of vicious…it didn’t look vicious but it was noticeable. You’d be standing in the hall and it would kind of slither up to you and you’d jump out of your skin for a minute. But this guy was very good at taking care of his snake.

"One day I was at home got a call from this colleague, and he said that Smith had gotten out of his office, and he thought it had gotten into my office. So he asked if I could come up and unlock my office so he could get Smith back out. I showed up and sure enough, Smith was in my office and had pooped [laughs] some mouse remains out on the carpet. My colleague was very good about cleaning it up. It was surprising because you’d just be talking and look down and see a snake; it’s just instinctive to just jump.

"I had the chance to move to another condemned building [in 1999], the computer science building, where the library is now, and it was a bigger office, although it would be a stretch to say that it was a nicer office. It was still ugly, but it was kind of bigger, and I thought, 'Well I’ll go ahead,' and it was actually kind of a question of loyalty in a way because I felt that I was abandoning the Barnies. Then I knew, of course, that we would stay in contact because we were all in the same department. But it was this question of conscience in a way like, 'Should I leave the Barnies, am I ditching them?' They, of course, rubbed it in and said, you know, 'Oh, turning your back on us are you; you think you’re too good to be in the Barn anymore?'

"The Barn had an esprit de corps. I think all the old Barnies have a special allegiance."

Interview Excerpt, Harold Kinzer, Ph.D.

Harold Kinzer is a retired Speech Communication Professor who wrote a detailed history of his connection to the Barn. Below are some excerpts which provide a feel for his relationship to the building, the students, and the program.

"From 1994-2007, the primary Barn use was speech communication instruction, the Barn continued to be known either as the “Art Barn” or “PSYAL” (psychology animal lab).

"During the 14 years that I was in the Barn, I began each term by joking that the Barn is where the university hid embarrassing professors. Possibly some students, after working with me, thought that this was a truthful statement. While I was out, an unknown student taped a vinyl clown to my office door. I took this as a compliment and kept it there until my retirement. Of course, I might have misunderstood the student’s intent.

"Most students had a hoot presenting speeches in an actual barn haymow. While waiting for class to begin some students would explore the abandoned equipment I had piled on the first floor. None had seen electronic equipment with tubes. Yes, radios once had big glowing tubes!"

1959 Bid for Barn Remodel

Historian Jon Alfred has located, in USU Special Collections, a three-page bid that Anderson Lumber (now Stock Building Products) prepared in 1959 for a remodel of the Barn. The bid is shown here, courtesy of USU Special Collections. Jon also noted letters from the same time frame from Dr. Twain Tippets, Chair of the Dept of Fine Arts, and Art Professor Dr. Harrison Groutage to USU President Daryl Chase, requesting use of the Barn as a ceramics studio, because they had lost their Old Main studio in a fire. A letter from the USU Board of Trustees to President Chase subsequently approved the Barn remodeling project. Interestingly, Logan evidently lacked natural gas at this time, so USU's kilns were heated with butane.