The Randall Campus Center, commonly referred to as "The Barn," was dedicated as a student center on the campus of Malone College (now Malone University) in 1977. The building itself was constructed circa 1923 as part of the Stark County Infirmary complex, housing animals belonging to the poor farm. In 1948, sections of the grounds were put up for auction, including the land which housed the barn, but all offers were rejected and the property remained under county ownership for several more decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, part of the barn was used as the Canton Crate and Canvas summer theater program. After attempts to rezone the land were denied, the county sold the land to Malone College, which had purchased the adjacent land in 1956. The school had been in need of a campus center to provide dining services and social activity space for resident students, but construction of adequate facilities was priced outside an acceptable range. For less than half the expected cost of building a new structure, the college instead began renovations of the barn from a storage facility and sometimes student theater into a large, comfortable building containing offices, snack bars, gathering and performance spaces, and necessary facilities such as student mailboxes. An intense fundraising campaign was launched, canvasing residential, commercial, and industrial areas in Stark County as well as targeting groups such as alumni and local clubs and organizations. The goal of $750,000 was raised with some left over, and groundbreaking took place in 1976. After a year of renovation, during which care was taken to preserve many aspects of the original building, such as window shapes, hay forks, and pulleys suspended from the ceiling, the Campus Center was dedicated and opened for use by the school and community. The collection contains one cubic foot of papers, photographs, cards, sketches, and one bound volume related to the renovation of the old Stark County Home barn into the Randall Campus Center.
