An exhibit hall styled like a medieval housebarn, the Stock Pavilion opened in 1908 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. By 1900 agriculture was a big part of Wisconsin's economy: the vast majority of heavy fieldwork was still powered by horses, with tractors just beginning to appear. Each February a big horse show and auction was held in the Dairy Barn pavilion and Agriculture Hall, but the show outgrew those venues, so a committee — which included Frederick Pabst and other prominent horse breeders — was appointed to consider options.
In 1906 they recommended the legislature provide $80,000 for a new pavilion, and Secretary of State Walter Houser lobbied for the building; in 1907 the state legislature approved a special appropriation. UW supervising architect Arthur Peabody and animal husbandry professor George Humphrey toured animal exhibition halls around the country for ideas, and in 1908 Warren Powers Laird and Paul Philippe Cret produced the design; the general contractor was T.C. McCarthy. The building's architectural significance was recognized when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Each February a horse show and auction outgrew the Dairy Barn pavilion, and in 1907 the legislature approved a special appropriation.