Abstract:
The poultry building at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem represents in physical
form the significance of poultry agriculture in the early twentieth century. Constructed in 1921 in
the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the poultry building was designed and constructed
specifically as a poultry exhibition hall for use during the week-long State Fair. The poultry
building reveals the region's identification with agriculture in an elegant and traditional way. The core evidence of this project has been
a three-fold investigation: a socio-poultry farming
history, an interpretive architectural history, and
an analysis of the building as artifact. The elegant,
classic design of the poultry building represents the apex of success of the poultry industry in the
early 1920s.