The John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum, home to some of the LSU AgCenter's livestock shows, rodeos and other activities on the LSU campus, is one of the largest and most beautiful of its kind. The coliseum was named for then Governor John M. Parker.
Oval and constructed of brick, hollow tile, concrete and structural steel, the building is 360 feet long and 220 feet wide. It was constructed during a $10,000,000 building program at the Louisiana State University between 1930 and 1938. The original cost was $1,333,871.02, and it was completed in 1937. The roof is of sheet copper, dome shaped. It has an arena 250 feet long and 125 feet wide, which is surrounded by a reinforced concrete amphitheater that provides individual seats for 6,756 people. At the time of its construction it was 6 feet larger than Madison Square Garden, which made it the biggest coliseum in the United States.
The building also provides 52,040 square feet of floor space for laboratories and offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station and World Aquaculture Society along with other LSU personnel. For many years, the building provided a place for the LSU Tigers basketball team to play as well as graduations and other activities.
Directly adjoining the east end of the Parker Coliseum is the Livestock Exhibit Building - a barn for housing livestock exhibits. The original barn was 268 feet long and 300 feet wide, covering an area of over two acres at a cost of approximately $260,000. In 1948 another barn adjoining the original barn was constructed measuring 276 feet long and 300 feet wide at a cost of $182,000. At the same time, a Quonset-type building was erected on the south side of the Parker Coliseum for use as a restaurant for exhibitors during shows. The cost of the project was $22,000. In 1979, this building was converted into a Mini Farm, and in 1980, some 30,000 children and adults toured the Mini Farm.
In 1952, a third addition to the existing livestock barnwas added, measuring 80 feet long and 300 feet wide at a cost of $85,000.
Originally 1,578 permanent tie spaces made of steel pipes mounted in concrete provided space sufficient for 1,500 head of livestock, 87 horses and 3,000 birds in the poultry division along with a permanent sales arena with bleachers. The barn was constructed to make it easily converted into a horse show barn suitable for housing 500 to 600 additional horses in portable stalls.
In 1953, Louisiana State University spent approximately $100,000 to improve the acoustics inside the coliseum and installed a new public address system. The University also installed an emergency lighting system to light the building automatically when the permanent system is interrupted.
In 1956, the Harry B. Nelson family built the Nelson Memorial Building for a youth center in memory of Harry B. Nelson. This facility is used almost 365 days a year as a favorite meeting place for AgCenter functions, associations, livestock organizations, youth groups and a myriad of other functions of the immediate university community.
In 1976, the sheep and swine were moved out of the main livestock barn into a new building across the street on the south side of the main livestock barn. This building is 210 feet by 210 feet and has more than 500 individual pens.
In 1976, the new Mini Farm building was constructed, measuring 60 feet wide by 90 feet long. Nearly every year since, more than 50,000 schoolchildren, adults and visitors have toured the Mini Farm during the livestock show. This building is used several times each week as a meeting area, a place to host meals for 100 to 300 people, exhibits area, science fairs and many other events.
In 1979, a 54-site motor home/camper facility was completed behind Nelson Memorial and the Mini Farm for the convenience of the exhibitors. These sites provide both water and electrical hook-ups.
In 1980, a fourth addition, an 80 foot by 175 foot covered arena was added to the present facility. This arena is used as judging arena for cattle shows, warm-up arena for horse shows and sales arena for association sales.
In 1995, the original section of the livestock exhibit barn was torn down and rebuilt. The new structure was designed for better ventilation and constructed of structural galvanized steel. All electrical service was put underground, and each electrical outlet was put on a separate breaker. The lighting was greatly improved and the PA system improved.
In 1997, temporary plans were drawn to replace the back two-thirds of the cattle barn, thereby enlarging the back arena and poultry barn and adding a milking parlor. The plans also call for closing the sales arena so that it could be used for meetings, slide presentations and other events. This is on hold. waiting for funding.
In January 1998 the original bucking chutes in the coliseum were replaced with new steel chutes and alleys. The cost was $23,600.
In 1998, Nelson Memorial was refurbished and painted. New blinds were installed, along with a new stove, refrigerator and PA system. Cost of these improvements was $10,000.
In January 1999, the roof on the sheep and swine barn was replaced at a cost of $214,000. The heating system for the office and restrooms was repaired at a cost of $1,500. Estimates were obtained to sand blast, prime and paint the ceiling inside the barn. The original estimate was $128,000. Work has been put on hold pending availability of funds.
In January 2000 bids were opened to replace coliseum windows and clean the outside of the coliseum. Work was completed September 2001 at a cost of $1.5 million. Landscaping around the coliseum is planned next.
The John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum and facilities encompass some 25 acres adjoining the LSU campus. The annual LSU AgCenter Livestock Show and Rodeo formerly was the best user of these arenas, barns and related services -- before it outgrew the facilities and was moved off campus in 2004. That show still hosts approximately 3,500 4-H/FFA exhibitors who have qualified at the district shows to compete at the state level. They exhibit approximately 2,000 head of 4-H/FFA beef, 400 head of 4-H/FFA dairy, 700 head of 4-H/FFA sheep, 1400 head of hogs and 3,000 chickens each year during the week of the Junior Livestock Show.
The Louisiana Quarter Horse Association holds its two state shows in the complex each year. The Dixie Jubilee Horse show is held annually and calls this home. Other major horse shows include the Big Easy and the Deep South Peruvian horse shows. The 4-H FFA state horse show, along with district horse shows, are held each July.
About 30 events at the facility are sponsored by the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service totaling 200 days in use and involving nearly 500,000 people. Approximately 250 events at the facility are not directly sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service. They involve some 300 days and an estimated 150,000 people. Total building use in 1997 (Nelson Memorial, Mini Farm, Sales Arena, Poultry Barn, Arena II and Coliseum) was 485 days. The number of days in use is from multiple activities on the same day. In 2000, there was something going on at John M. Parker complex more than 45 weekends of the year.