In January 1970 Robert Smithson visited Kent State University as part of the School of Art Creative Arts Festival . Initially , he had planned to do a mudflow sculpture , but cold temperatures prevented him from being able to dig the dirt needed for the project . Instead , he created '' Partially Buried Woodshed '' using an old woodshed from a former farm on the eastern edge of campus that had recently been acquired by the school . Smithson rented a backhoe and transported 20 truck loads of dirt onto the right side of the woodshed until the center beam cracked , marking the beginning of the structure ’s decline . He valued the work at $ 10,000 and donated it to the university , asking that no changes be made and that the structure be allowed to deteriorate naturally . Shortly after the May 4 , 1970 , Kent State shootings , an anonymous person added the inscription ' MAY 4 KENT 70 ' with white paint to one of the structure 's horizontal beams . The addition of the message about May 4 , 1970 helped make the '' Partially Buried Woodshed '' one of the many memorial sites on campus . The work was set on fire by an unknown arsonist on March 28th , 1975 , burning much of the left side and causing the structure 's major collapse . The University Arts Commission recommended in April that the roof and burned portion be removed , mostly citing safety concerns , with the remaining walls , earthen mound , and rafters remaining to continue the natural aging process . By late April , the university had much of the damaged section removed and planned to landscape the area around the sculpture as a park . Smithson 's widow , Nancy Holt , visited the work May 3 , 1975 , and called for its preservation . A committee recommended in June 1975 that the entire sculpture be removed , citing liability concerns , though university president Glenn Olds ultimately decided to keep the remains of the sculpture in 1976 . Sometime in mid-1981 , the center beam fully broke , and in January 1984 , the remaining wooden elements of the structure were quietly removed by the university . While the School of Art hosted exhibits in 1990 for the 20th anniversary of the work 's creation , and again in 2005 for the 35th anniversary , the location of the artwork was largely ignored until Kent State University added an informational plaque to a sidewalk near the site in 2016
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Partially Buried Woodshed