History of Buildings on Kansas State University Campus

Note: This information was taken from the College of Agriculture - Spring 2013 AgReport Magazine.  Pictures and more information on the buildings were taken from Kansas State University's website, www.ksu.edu

My husband and I receive the AgReport from Kansas State University.  A lot of times when this magazine comes I always have the intention to read it but very rarely does that actually get accomplished.

This time I picked it up and was flipping through the pages when I stumbled onto an article found on page 6.  It is called Then and Now, A brief history of how campus buildings relate to agriculture.

I found the following information pretty neat, as I have spent some time in each of these building on campus.

Ahearn is named after Michael F. Ahearn, who was the second "winningest" football coach behind Bill Synder.  In 1911, Mr. Ahearn accepted a position as a horticulture professor, focusing primarily on ornamental horticulture.  The Scottish ivy growing on walls of some campus buildings was planted in the Ahearn era. Ahearn Field House is now used for volleyball, track, tennis and various other activities.

Anderson Hall was called the Practical Agriculture Building of the Main College Building until 1902, when it was named for John A. Anderson, university president from 1873 to 1879.

Call Hall (my favorite hall because of the amazing ice cream made there) is named for Leland Everett Call, who came to K-State in 1907 as an assistant in the Department of Agronomy.  He served as assistant and associate professor of soils, head of the department from 1913 to 1925, and dean of agriculture and director of the Agricultural Experiment Station from 1925 to 1945.

Shellenberger Hall
The Milling Technology building was completed in 1960 to replace the milling department equipment and facilities destroyed by the 1957 fire in East Waters.  The building was named Shellenberger Hall in honor of John A. Shellenberger, who was head of the Department of Milling Industry from 1945 to 1970.  According to a 1961 Manhattan Mercury article, the milling stones at the east entrance of Shellenber Hall were probably from an old mill at Lindsborg and given to the university around 1917.  Shellenberger Hall is home to the Department of Grain Science and Industry as well as the International Grains Program.

Weber Hall (I spent most of my college career in the halls of Weber)
Arthur Weber was appointed to acting president of the university in 1957, the same year that Weber Hall was completed.  The building was named for him in 1964.  Weber was often referred to as Dad Weber, a name he acquired as a senior in high school because his classmates often asked him for advice.  Weber Hall contains Weber Arena and has specialized research and teaching laboratories primarily in the meats area. There are also labs for reproductive psychology.

Weather...A farmers best friend and worst enemy

Weather in Kansas can be pretty crazy.  I have heard people say, if you don't like the weather wait five minutes and it will change.  That couldn't have been more true for the weather we had on Tuesday of last week.  At one point in the day it was 75 degrees and beautiful outside.  Then a little while later it was 40 degrees and the wind was bone chilling.

As crop farmers we have a love/hate relationship with the weather.  We love it when it is dry, with just the right amount of moisture in the ground and a sky that has a few clouds and a bright shiny sun.  The hate part comes in when that combination isn't just right.  Weather can either make a farmers day extremely long (getting every kernel of corn planted before the rain comes in a few days) or extremely short (the rain visited us today instead of a few days).

We started planting corn on Monday and the weather was just right.  Then Tuesday came around and this is what we woke up to on Wednesday morning.  Guess corn planting will be held off a few more days.

Yep that is ice on everything.  We went from having pretty green fields of wheat, to wheat fields covered in ice.

The other part of weather that makes a farmers skin crawl is the threat of sever weather.  We don't like damaging winds, hail, or the threat of tornadoes.  I felt bad for the farmers of Nebraska yesterday when I saw my cousin post this picture of hail that they were getting.

When my dad was still farming we had a huge hail storm come through.  We sat inside and watched the hail knock down the entire wheat field around our house.  We were devastated because that wheat field was going to be cut in just a few short days.  No wheat crop meant no money.  I remember looking at my dad and seeing anguish in his eyes.  All his hard work and dedication gone in just a few short minutes.  We saw that same look in my dad's eyes in April of 1991 when a tornado crossed five of his fields.  We spent a good portion of that summer cleaning up tornado trash.  Months after everything was cleaned up we were still spending money to fix flat tires on the tractor.  No matter how thoroughly we cleaned the fields there were still nails everywhere.

Last fall we had damaging straight line winds come through.  The picture below shows how a pivot is supposed to look.  But the next day when we were out looking to see if any of our pivots had survived, we saw tires in the air and mangled metal on the ground.  These pivots looked like twizzlers instead of pivots.

But no matter the season, no matter the weather we keep farming.  Why you might ask...well that is because we love it.  Not even mother nature and her unruliness can keep us from farming.

A year in review

It has been a crazy and busy year.

In May of last year I ran my first 5K.  It was fun and challenging all at the same time.  I am running another one on May 4th this year.  Hopefully this will be come a yearly tradition.

In June we found out that we were pregnant with our third child.  My son was praying for a little brother as he is out numbered four to one with girls on both sides of the family.  He got his wish!

June, July, and August were full of harvest, irrigation, running meals to the field and swim lessons.

In late August my son started preschool.  I can't believe how fast time is going.

In September we went to the State Fair.  That is my favorite time of year because farming has slowed down a little.  The kids were excited to see a few celebrities while we were there!

October, November and December was filled with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and lots of family time.

In January we welcomed our third child into the world! He is such a sweet little boy.

February we welcomed some much needed moisture...in the form of snow.  The kids loved it.

March we celebrated my daughters 3rd birthday.

And here we are in April again. Hopefully this year I can do better with keeping you all informed about what is happening around the farm.

Here is to another great year!