Inside Iowa State

May 17, 2007

Barn quilts, observatory, recreation trails among ISU's sesquicentennial gifts to Iowans

by Diana Pounds

-- The famous "clock barn" east of Pocahontas on Highway 3 will become even more picturesque in a few weeks when it acquires a new barn quilt.

--In Marshall County, an observatory overlooking the Grimes Farm conservation area will be erected.

-- And in August, paddlers will try out a newly constructed canoe trail on Lake Odessa, just east of Wapello.

These projects and many more are under way in every county in the state, as part of Iowa State University's sesquicentennial celebration.

"The projects are our way to say 'thank you' to Iowans for their support over the past 150 years," ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said. "We are deeply grateful for that support, which transformed a small college chartered in 1858 into one of the world's leading comprehensive educational and research universities."

University Extension is coordinating the projects, which include the 8-foot-square wooden barn quilt in Cyclone colors that will join the giant clock on the Pocahontas County barn, the 30-foot observatory near Marshalltown and signs and kiosks that will guide canoers around the many fingers of Lake Odessa.

Joining Extension and 4-H in the flurry of community projects over the next year are numerous community volunteers and local and state groups, including conservation boards, historical commissions, school groups, business organizations, fair boards, community colleges, parks staff and the Department of Natural Resources.

Volunteers will attach quilts to numerous old barns. They'll also plant gardens and landscape community areas, stock food pantries, clean trails, construct picnic tables and recreation shelters, spruce up county fairgrounds and build historical displays.

The sesquicentennial projects are listed on the Extension Web site at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/150th/.

To help celebrate ISU's sesquicentennial, Extension is organizing projects in all of Iowa's 99 counties.

"The projects are our way to say 'thank you' to Iowans for their support over the past 150 years. We are deeply grateful for that support, which transformed a small college chartered in 1858 into one of the world's leading comprehensive educational and research universities."

- ISU President Gregory Geoffroy