University of Illinois round barns, Round agricultural buildings at University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District, United States.
The University of Illinois round barns are three circular wooden farm buildings on the university campus in Urbana Township, Illinois, each built around a central silo. The three structures stand on the grounds of what was once an experimental dairy farm and are listed as contributing properties in the National Register of Historic Places.
The university established an experimental dairy farm on its campus in 1907, led by Wilbur J. Fraser, to test new approaches to milk production. The three round barns were built over the following years as part of that research facility and are now among the few surviving examples of this type of farm building in the country.
The round barns on the university grounds are a rare surviving example of early agricultural architecture that visitors can still walk around and observe up close. The wooden framing inside, with its spoke-like pattern radiating from a central point, gives a clear sense of how the circular layout was meant to make farm work easier and faster.
The barns are located on the university campus in Urbana Township and can be reached on foot by walking through the grounds of the former research farm. The terrain is open and uneven in places, so sturdy footwear is a good idea.
One of the three barns was built for just 3,200 dollars, making it one of the cheapest farm buildings of its kind at the time. The silo inside that barn was raised from the basement to the roof without any scaffolding, which was an uncommon way to build at the time.
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