Skip to main content
ISU University Museums
Main Content

Farm House 160

Posted on February 10, 2020 at 10:00 AM by Betsy Grabinski

The Farm House has played an important role on the Iowa State campus and has impacted the lives of many students and faculty. This year, University Museums is celebrating the importance of the Farm House to this campus over the past 160 years.

The Farm House 160 exhibition will be located throughout the historic house and opened last week to visitors. The exhibition will run through November 1, 2020 and was curated by Madisyn Rostro, Farm House Museum intern and ISU sophomore majoring in History.

The exhibition will showcase the many purposes the Farm House has served over the past 160 years including acting as the home for farm tenants working on the original model farm, an early residency for Iowa State presidents, home to Deans of Agriculture and, since the Bicentennial in 1976, a campus museum. Visitors will also gain insight on how campus was affected by global events such as the Civil War, the advent of electrification, the Great Depression, WWI and WWII, and more.

 

"Interactive exhibition labels will inspire each visitor to get involved and test their knowledge," said Allison Sheridan, Farm House Museum Manager. "The exhibition will illustrate everything fundamental to the Farm House from 1860 to today. Visitors can also brush up on their general history, placing objects in context to make connections about what was going on in the world during that time period."

 

The Farm House Museum is open Monday through Friday from Noon to 4:00 p.m.; closed weekends, holidays and university breaks. In addition, there will be a weekend open house on March 21-22; the Museum will be open both days from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

Left: Can you guess what decade the cast iron stove was used in the Farm House? The answer is the 1870s. Cast iron stoves were being used widely in the United States due to their lighter, smaller, and more compact design compared to other stoves of the time.

 

Right: Farm House 160 student curator Madisyn Rostro stands in the parlor of the Farm House Museum.

 

© 2024 University Museums, Iowa State University. All rights reserved.