The Linnaeus Learning Center, fondly known as “The Barn”, is the oldest remaining building on the site of the David Travis Estate. The Snedden Mansion is the home of the Tulsa Garden Center, our parent organization.

The Barn has served many functions during its nearly 100 years of existence. Originally it was simply a barn, built, in the style of the barns of the period and the region, of long straight-grained yellow pine, and it housed the livestock of the property. As time went by it evolved to care for estate machinery, then Park Department equipment and supplies.

As the Tulsa Garden Center grew, the Barn became a center for the messier activities of gardeners, and then for gardening classes and projects. Along the way it acquired modern wiring, a concrete floor in place of the dirt-and-straw, and even plumbing in the restrooms and a “kitchen”. The loft was enclosed and became, as needed, a site for projects, a dump for useful objects, an office for the Park Department, and much that cannot be described.

When the Barn became the home for the Linnaeus Gardens, the pace of change became quick, radical, and functional. The Linnaeus Teaching Gardens needed a center to house all of the human and administrative functions of the Gardens. The Linnaeus Learning Center has become the place where the volunteers share their gardening experience and classroom knowledge with the gardening public.

First, the decay of years had to be repaired. The worst of the decay was replaced with new material, and the Barn was given a lovely new paint job. The Director of Horticulture, Barry Fugatt, needed an office on site at the Gardens. The volunteers needed public desk space to house the immediate reference material, the computers, and the other material needed to help the public. The Hospitality Committee needed storage for their equipment and supplies. And all of these spaces desperately needed cooling by August of our first public year, 2006.

With the cooling, provided by the continuing generosity of our benefactor, Mr. Walter Helmerich, came the need for insulation. Since insulation is useful but ugly, the need arose for covering for the insulated spaces. Richard Johnson, a Linnaeus volunteer, and many other volunteers installed the cedar paneling that slopes across the interior walls. They give us a clean and attractive space in which to work, while retaining the rustic feeling of a barn.

Upstairs in the former hayloft is a growing new area that is now a modest classroom space (36 student spaces), and an office for our Horticultural Assistant, Julie Almohandis.

Ron Nick, curator of the Linnaeus Learning Center, says that this is a fascinating place to work. It is evolving in front of us. Who knows what it will look like in the future? But it offers us a historic and functional venue for our activities.

Ron invites all of Tulsa to come and visit your Gardens. See each new development, and enjoy the facilities. Admire Richard’s craftsmanship in the interior and outside, in the Arbor.

If you find the doors closed, give them a tug. The Barn is always open when the Gardens are open.