The Jones Building is the current home of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and CAHNR Communications, but did you know the building was originally dedicated to poultry science? Here's a fun mystery solved by UConn Facilities Manager, Nate Bedard '06, and his family:
"We first came across the plaque in mid April when I had taken my kids to the Dairy Bar to get some ice cream. Carol (10) and Nathan Jr. (6) were walking down the hill from the parking lot where the plaque is now. At that time, the only part of the plaque that was visible was a small portion of the bottom right corner. As we came down the hill, I heard my kids shout out to me: “Dad look at this, what is this?” The grass being completely overgrown, it was hard to tell how big it was or what it could be. I told the kids that it was either an electrical duct bank cover or something that should not be overgrown. Eagar to get some ice cream, I told the kids I would take a closer look at it when I was at work with my Friend Wes (Wes Ayers who manages the landscape and utilities group at Facilities). The next week at work, Wes and I took a field trip over to see if we could figure out what it was. While we were peeling away the overgrown grass and digging out the plaque, Sharon Aborn from the Department of Animal Science happened to be walking by and asked us what we were doing. The three of us eventually uncovered the entire plaque. It was a bit of a mystery trying to figure out what the word on the plaque was, reading it backwards and running into a U that looked like a V. Once we determined what it was, the discussion turned to why it would be over on this side of campus since the poultry facilities were on the other side of campus. At this point, I called my dad Robert Bedard (76) who is a UConn poultry science grad from the class of 1972. While on the phone with my dad, I asked him where he took his poultry classes when he was a student. He said he could not remember the name of the building but it was on the road by Hicks arena and right behind where the Dairy Bar is now. I believe it is the Jones building. He said that there used to be a processing facility in the back of the building."
Thanks to the Bedard Family for bringing this piece of CAHNR history back to life!
