History

In 1823, Lemuel and Sarah Taylor bought 160 acres of land in Avon Township.  Lemuel's granddaughter Sarah Ann married Joshua Van Hoosen in 1854.  In 1864, Joshua bought the Taylor farm when Sarah's mother died. 

In the winter of 1872, work began on a massive barn, one that would rival Lysander Woodward's barn on the corner of Tienken and Rochester Road.  During that winter, trees were cut down in preparation for construction in the spring.  The "Big Barn" was constructed across the road from Joshua's home, expanding the farm in a southern direction (where all future building would take place).  When the Big Barn was finished, it was 103 feet long making it the longest barn in Oakland County (beating Woodward's barn by one foot).  On the inside, the measurement was 101 feet and was two stories high.  The basement housed sheep and cattle and also included a root cellar.  The second floor housed three hay mows (heaps) and a large granary for wheat and oats.  The Big Barn was painted white and received its water from Mount Moriah through tamarack (wooden) pipes.

Joshua raised wheat and sheep on his farm, supplying bread and cloth for his family.  When he died in 1894, he left his family 300 acres; Joshua's daughter Alice Van Hoosen Jones took over the farm.  From 1894 to 1927, there were changes made to the farm around the barn.  In 1911, two silos were added.  In 1912, the basement in the Big Barn was remodeled. The dirt and wood floors were replaced with cement.  Also, iron piping replaced the wooden stanchions (which were used to secure cattle in their stalls). In 1914, a milking barn was erected next to the Big Barn. In 1927, Alice's daughter Sarah Van Hoosen Jones took over.  She enlarged her grandfather's old home and barn.  She also built a new dairy unit and bred her own stock of cattle (she had graduated with a doctorate degree in genetics from the University of Wisconsin).  She and her aunt, Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, did important research on cattle diseases. 

On Palm Sunday 1968, two boys were playing with matches and set fire to the barn destroying it along with twelve calves and the milking barn next to it.  After World War II, some men were no longer content with rural life on the farm.  Some decided to move their families to the cities and suburbs that sprung up.  Today, many of the large farms in Rochester Hills are gone.  That is why it is so important to preserve the "shrines to our agrarian past" that are left.  Sarah recognized this and deeded the farm to Michigan State University in 1954.  In 1972 she died and in 1979, the buildings and grounds were transformed into the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm.