By Landee Kieschnick
TFB Communications Intern

At the heart of the campus sits an iconic landmark rooted in Texas Tech University’s agricultural heritage.

Since opening its doors in 1927, the university’s dairy barn was used by students who were a part of the Student Dairy Association to milk and collect revenue to pay for their college tuition and board.

Three decades later, the barn was abandoned, and dairy operations were moved to another location.

Today, the barn remains a visible and memorable campus feature.

And the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech announced a $2.6 million restoration project aimed at bringing the building back to a working academic facility.

“There are a lot of people who have had a connection to the dairy barn that are alumni of the school of business, or architecture or various majors, so it’s going to be a popular facility within the university community,” Dr. Steven Fraze, interim dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech, said.

Once the barn is renovated, Fraze said it will make a bold statement of where the university has been and what it took to get where they are today, making this historic building an ideal collaborative and conference space for Texas Tech students, faculty, staff and alumni.

“I think it’s very important to not ever lose sight of where we’ve come from and that the dairy barn was such an intricate part in the early days of Texas Tech,” Fraze said.

A unique style of architecture, as well as history in the re-making, the barn is one of the oldest structures on campus.

Over the years, it has survived a fire and abandonment, followed by years of neglect and threats of demolition, Fraze noted.

Proposed renovations involve securing and updating the historic building’s interior. The plans also include the creation of two large meeting areas on the barn’s first floor, as well as loft spaces and the addition of several offices in what were originally livestock stalls.

The building’s history will also be on display where the cows were once milked daily.

In 1992, the barn and its remaining silo were recognized by the National Register of Historical Places.

For more information about this historic landmark, visit http://today.ttu.edu/posts/2016/04/dairy-barn.