Piggery

This is the O.C. Barber Piggery as seen from Robinson Ave. This lavish barn, nicknamed the "Pork Palace" was the last major barn completed on the Anna Dean Farm. The Piggery was built in 1912 at a cost exceeding $50,000. Adjusting for inflation from 1912 to the present, this would be like spending over $750,000 in terms of present day dollars. The Piggery was used initially to house the Berkshire swine on the Anna Dean Farm until 1915. In 1915 a case of cholera was detected in the herd of swine and the entire herd had to be destroyed. After this occurred the Piggery was completely scrubbed down with bleach and sheep were moved into the structure. The swine herd was replenished, but they were moved to simple wooden "A" frame structures behind the Robinson Ave. Green houses. The sheep would occupy the Piggery only from 1915 to 1917. O.C. Barber did not like the fact that the sheep pulled the grass out by its roots, thus killing it, when they grazed. This was the same problem that caused friction between cattle ranchers and sheep herders in the Old West. Sheep can destroy the grass lands that they graze on leaving only a dusty area, where the grass once grew. Cattle and other grazing animals only nibble at the top of the grass, thus leaving it alive. Tiring of seeing the Piggery sit in the middle of a growing desert, and having to take the sheep further and further from the Piggery to graze, Mr. Barber sold the entire herd off in 1917. From 1917 until 1920, the Piggery was used to house young calves on the Anna Dean Farm and renamed the Calf Barn. All of the grass surrounding the Piggery had to be replanted after the sheep were sold off.

This is the western side of the Piggery, or Calf Barn as it was known after 1917. This long majestic building was the first building you would see after you crossed the Robinson bridge and headed up Robinson Ave toward the Anna Dean Farm. At 300 feet long, with its patriotic red, white and blue color scheme, this was surely one of the most pleasant looking of the Anna Dean Farm barns. Upstairs in section three lived the Piggery barn boss and his family in a nice set of rooms that that looked down on the herd in the two wings of the barn. Like all barns on the Anna Dean Farm the Piggery was always kept clean and fresh.

Here we see some of the Berkshire Swine, or hogs, outside of the Piggery. The top photo shows one of the Berkshire Boars, with the sows milling around the East side of the Piggery in the central photo. The bottom, oval shaped photo shows the Berkshire's milling around south west of the Piggery. After the hogs were slaughtered en masse in 1915, for catching the cholera, Mr. Barber erected wooden "A" frame buildings to individually house the hogs. These new wooden structures were located between the Piggery and Brooder Barn initially, but were later moved to the area between the Robinson Greenhouses and Barn No 1. In the bottom oval photo you see one of these new wooden hog houses located near the middle of the photo. Barn No 1 can be seen to the left, with the towers, and the tall building just to the left of the Chestnut tree is the Barber Hotel.